Boss Rush Banter: Should We Temper our Tears of the Kingdom Expectations?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) is undoubtably Nintendo’s, and maybe even the entire gaming world’s,most anticipated game of the year. However, if Cyberpunk, No Man’s Sky, and Final Fantasy 14 has taught us anything, it’s to keep our expectations in check for a game we have put our hands on yet.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) is a widely popular game, even 6 years after release. It took such an incredibly different direction than what its predecessors foundation was built on. In previous The Legend of Zelda games, you’d take control of Link and explore a vast overworld while attacking dungeons in chronological order and collecting items in each dungeon that will help you solve the next dungeon in line. Breath of the Wild scrapped all of that and gave the player complete freedom to explore Hyrule as they please, while being able to discover over 100 shrines.

All of this sounds so good though, so why should we temper our expectations? Let’s talk about some of the major complaints from BotW and the likelihood of the developers addressing it,

Weapon Durability
Alright, I was actually a big fan of the weapon durability in Breath of the Wild, and am glad to see its return in Tears of the Kingdom. However, the fusing aspect is making me apprehensive. One of my least favorite parts of the game was cooking. I found zero joy in trying to combine various monster parts and vegetables only for it to end up as dubious food more than half the time. It felt like a tinkering time suck. The way they address weapon durability is going to be a tinkering method using an ability called fusion. As we saw in the mini Zelda Direct, you can fuse anything together to make a weapon or shield. It sounds fun in theory, but it may get old fast considering how many different items there are and how many hours you might sink into finding the best combos.

Frame Rate
Breath of the Wild ran well for the most part, but sections of it (especially scenes with a lot of Guardians) we’d see major frame rate drops. This is a little concerning considering that we’ll be playing what we’re led to believe is a much bigger game on the same exact hardware. However, Monolith Soft, who has developed all of the Xenoblade games and have assisted with BotW, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing, has proven that they can push the limits on Switch.

Lack of Story
We still know absolutely nothing about the story. We don’t know who’s involved, we don’t know how supportive other characters will be, and with a huge open world, it’s most likely not going to be a streamlines story yet again. Outside of Skyward Sword, Zelda games typically don’t have too deep of a story, but I really would like more than 12 snippits told through photos.

Even though I do have my apprehensions, I’m looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom and know I will sink my teeth into hundreds of hours of this game. One of the things I appreciated so much about Breath of the Wild was that if there was an aspect I didn’t enjoy or like, I was able to skip it and find a ton of other things to enjoy. My only ask of you, the reader, is if you have high expectations for this game, and the game doesn’t live up to them, please be kind to those who have worked so hard on this game. Gaming culture has had a negative shift online where (very few, but very vocal) gamers will take to their social media and personally go after voice actors, developers, or writers. There are thousands of games out there, you’ll find one you enjoy even if this isn’t for you.

Will you temper you expectations or are you going full throttle into Friday? Share your reactions in the comments below or join in the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord and Facebook.

Nintendo Pow Block: The Nintendo Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

Nintendo Pow Block – Nintendo Pow Block is Boss Rush Media’s Nintendo Podcast. Each week, Edward, Corey, and their friends from around the internet come together to talk about the week that was in the world of Nintendo, including news, rumors, games, fun facts, and more, including fan favorite segments like Snacktendo, Playing with Power, Game Fact Advance, and Question Block. Look for the question thread in the community Discord.

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