Tears of the Kingdom

Tears of the Kingdom#

The first game that made me want to write something, and actually wrote something

Game Journey#

Started playing the pirated version of the game on May 3rd. (Here, I must confess, not only did I play a pirated version, but also a leaked version. I will try to buy the official version as soon as I become financially independent in the future.) There were a few days of interruption in between, and I finished the final boss, Ganon, yesterday, which can be considered as completing the game. After finishing, I felt a bit melancholic and wanted to see other people's reactions by watching videos and browsing forums, but I couldn't find any. I had some thoughts while taking a shower, so I decided to write them down.

Thoughts#

Before the Chinese New Year in 2023, I downloaded a bunch of games, but by February, I lost interest in playing games. It wasn't until early May when I came across "Tears of the Kingdom" that I became completely engrossed in playing games, staying up late several times.

Why does this game have such a great charm? I have a few thoughts:

Storyline. To be honest, I could already guess the general storyline within the first five days of playing. But I still think it's a well-done parody storyline. I really like the relationship between Link and Zelda in this game. Zelda's trust in Link, the trust that transcends time and her own sacrifice, really moved me.
Characters.
- Zelda. The Zelda in this game is truly beautiful. She worked as a teacher at the Hateno School for a while, and her house is filled with paintings made by her students. She traveled around the Hyrule continent, and people everywhere have nothing but praise for her.
- Ganon. I don't have much feeling towards him, and I even find him a bit funny. The final boss battle was not difficult, even someone as clumsy as me could defeat him in one try. But ten thousand years ago, he was invincible. The grandeur of his declarations also didn't impress me much. But it didn't really affect my overall experience. Only after finishing the game did I realize that if I died during the battle, I would have to start over from the monster army, and I felt lucky that I didn't die.
- Kakariko Village residents. The most annoying village. To be honest, when I played this game, I had the mindset of "I saved the world a few years ago, you don't have to worship me, but at least respect me." But in this village, I felt like I had a lower status than the ordinary villagers. One villager even slept on a stone slab and wouldn't let me wake him up directly, I had to find a Life Truffle for him; and when I just wanted to touch a stone slab, I was stopped. Not to mention that I tried various methods to enter a certain location but was denied access. Although I later found out that it was a requirement for the storyline, I still felt very unhappy about it.
- Residents of Hateno Village. This village formed a stark contrast to Kakariko Village, and I felt respected here. The quests were also interesting.
Relationship with the previous game:
The timeline of this game should be a few years after "Breath of the Wild". It can be considered a sequel. However, the Sheikah technology from the previous game has almost disappeared. This point has been criticized by many old players. Although I have played "Breath of the Wild", I only completed two shrines, Wind and Water, and I used cheat codes excessively during gameplay, which resulted in a poor gaming experience. So I don't have much attachment to the previous game. Therefore, it didn't really affect me.

In addition, this game has also sparked my interest in the entire "Legend of Zelda" series. After learning some related information (watched a few videos), I can now appreciate some of the easter eggs hidden in this game. I envy those players who got into the series early, they must be so happy.
Music. The most memorable part is the music in the Wind Temple, it's amazing. Although I spent almost an afternoon on the jumping puzzle before entering the temple, it didn't diminish the impact it had on me.

I've said so much above, but I haven't gotten to the point yet. I think the most attractive aspects of the game for me are:

Thoughtful developers: While playing, I can feel that the developers have really played the game in great detail. It doesn't seem difficult to achieve this: handy tools, rich text, giving me the feeling that the developers have thought of everything I could think of. But in reality, among the games I've played, it seems that only "The Legend of Zelda" series has truly achieved this.
Intuitive design: This seems to be the same as the previous point, but I still listed it separately because it's so great. I have always believed that the highest standard of good design is intuitiveness. When you get a product, you don't need to read the instructions or ask others, you can just use it right away. I think that's a great experience. And to achieve intuitiveness, especially in games, developers need to think a lot.
Sense of exploration: I read an article about "Breath of the Wild" that said Nintendo divided a large map into triangles using towers, shrines, and treasure chests. I think that's a very reasonable approach. "Tears of the Kingdom" takes this even further with the presence of the Bird's Eye Tower. After shooting up into the sky, seeing special terrain, shrines, and Dragon's Tears, I can't help but have the urge to explore them one by one. This is what makes it difficult to stop playing, as there will always be new places to explore.
Abilities: The abilities in this game are outstanding. Soaring allows for enhanced mobility. The Remnants system enriches the weapon system. The Ultimate Hand is a lot of fun to play around with. I'm not very skilled at playing games, not only am I clumsy, but my creativity is also average. But seeing all the creative ways people come up with online has been a great joy for me this past month.
Friendly to clumsy players: The difficulty level is not high, there are suitable guides, and there are even ways to skip classes, which allows me to better enjoy the game.
Technology: I always remember the awe I felt when I learned about the various tricks and techniques that the programmers of Super Mario used to adapt the game console's performance. It was so magical. "Tears of the Kingdom" also has strong technical capabilities. The size of around 16GB is not considered large by today's standards, but the richness of this game is unmatched by many other games. And there aren't many bugs, except for some duplication bugs, I haven't seen any major bugs that affect the gaming experience.

Now, let's talk about the emulator. The smooth experience we have now, from the obvious lag, constant crashes, and texture errors when it was first leaked, is thanks to the continuous efforts of the emulator developers and maintainers. In the first few days, the atmosphere in the related communities was also very good. Many people shared their settings to enhance the gaming experience. To put it inappropriately, I felt the spirit of the internet in this aspect - helping each other, not expecting anything in return, and continuously exploring. That's how I understand it. This can also be said to be one of the things that attracted me to "Tears of the Kingdom".

Conclusion#

Today, I saw a sentence that said, "I suddenly understand what makes a good game, and even watching how its players play is very interesting." It's so true.