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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#51
post #31
post #6

I just played it for an hour. It's like a remix Breath of the Wild, which isn't a bad thing considering BotW might be the best game I've ever played. But because of that there's no initial mind blowing experience of learning the mechanics for the first time, understanding how you can go anywhere, climb anything, etc. Hard to replicate an experience like that I suppose. But it still seems like a ton of fun, and I'm su…

I didn't play BotW, would it be ok for me to jump right into this one?

I started playing a week ago, though I’m not super far in.

You could, but I’d definitely suggest playing Breath of the Wild first if possible. TotK is a sequel, so characters already know you, part of the fun is seeing how the map changed, etc.

Also, they’ve added quite a few conveniences that would make it hard to play in the reverse order.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#52

Apparently the game is just 16GB and runs seamlessly on a decade old hardware with no loading screens between game areas. How does Nintendo pull it off?

The better question you should be asking is why does everyone else need 300GB of disk space that transfers at over 7GB/s, 32 CPU cores at 6GHz, a video card worth $3000 dollars, and RAM sizes measured in gigabytes with 3 digits just for a fucking game?

At some point I have to wonder if the reason we have so much computing power is so we can use that computing power.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#54
post #5

BOTW was almost perfect, but the weapon breaking system left me so tired of managing it. What a constant distraction! I get that they wanted to encourage experimentation, but they overtuned it, and it became a chore. If TOTK has the same system, I'm returning it.

TOTK has the same system but the weapon durability is greatly increased. My stash has been full the entire game so far and I regularly throw weapons away just to try new ones.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#55

I was listening to a gaming podcast last week and they were talking about how this release was pirated and available for the last week or so on torrents. That in itself wasn't surprising, but the interesting point they talked about is that the game is much more enjoyable when played on PC with an emulated copy because modern gaming PC hardware is much smoother and higher resolution than the stock Switch. It really ma…

For the last few generations Nintendo has been happy to be slightly behind Playstation and Xbox in terms of graphics so that they can be the lower-cost alternative.

And based on unit sales, that strategy seems to be doing pretty well.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#56
post #7

For those of us who have never played a Zelda game...how does this compare to Pokemon, Fallout or Knights of the Old Republic?

I think Zelda games are in a league of their own, and always have been at every generation. The general mechanic is being able to initially explore, yet running into obstacles that prevent you from going many places. Then you solve the necessary puzzles and kill monsters to acquire tools. Finally, you must figure out where when and how to use those tools to overcome those obstacles to travel to previously unreachable areas. Its a very gratifying experience the first time through, and there is a lot of replay value in the games too.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo are way too control-freak for this, not to mention fearful of piracy and emulation. They don't want that money.

Like it or not apparently Switch piracy is a thing so this doesn't really change much for their current situation. But it does give people who want to do things the right way an avenue to do so. I kind of think of it like high end CAD software and such that ships a physical dongle in order to use the software--Nintendo can sell hardware to help ensure it's legitimate use of their emulation software.

It changes the situation deeply. Switch piracy is not easy. You need to get an emulator, get a key dump for a Switch, torrent the game, setup everything. For a console you need physical modification or some tinkering shorting pins if you have a first gen console.

That’s a high bar to cross for Nintendo main market which remains families. Plus at this point the Switch is mostly a money printing machine between the old hardware and the store.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also Nintendo's whole philosophy is all about doing more with less. They make money on every device by not putting out overly engineered / performant systems. So they have always been lagging in terms of cutting edge hardware, but they make up for it by focusing on joyful content.

I wouldn't say that's always been the case. Both the N64 and Gamecube featured relatively cutting edge tech during their time. Of course, those two are their weakest selling home consoles, so they've definitely shifted their strategy afterwards. But for two generations, they did try and keep up with their contemporaries.

> those two are their weakest selling home consoles

Wii U would like a word.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not apparently Switch piracy is a thing so this doesn't really change much for their current situation. But it does give people who want to do things the right way an avenue to do so. I kind of think of it like high end CAD software and such that ships a physical dongle in order to use the software--Nintendo can sell hardware to help ensure it's legitimate use of their emulation software.

Yes exactly, this idea that piracy is lost sales has always been rubbish. The people who go out of their way to pirate always will. Does it work on an M1 Max yet?

> Yes exactly, this idea that piracy is lost sales has always been rubbish

That's beside the point. What matters is that Nintendo believes that piracy must be opposed at all costs. It's not about sales, it's not about money, it's not about logic, I don't think it's even about the actual law. It's about attacking piracy, as an end unto itself.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Release

#60
post #5

BOTW was almost perfect, but the weapon breaking system left me so tired of managing it. What a constant distraction! I get that they wanted to encourage experimentation, but they overtuned it, and it became a chore. If TOTK has the same system, I'm returning it.

On its own, it's arguably probably worse. There are a few improvements, you start out with a larger inventory and you are showered with parts to use with fuse.

I do not see what Nintendo sees that this system added to the game.

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