Note: This article has been translated from Italian by ChatGPT and may contain errors.
Let’s delve into some aspects of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, of which I’ve already written in an article with a final praise.
There’s no need to state the obvious, but it’s always better to do so: the Switch is a console of limited power, so seeing a game like Tears of the Kingdom running on it is almost a miracle. However, it’s pointless to deny that certain aspects like textures and polygon count are quite lacking. An example? The mountains are embarrassing. Could more have been done? Probably not. Some might not feel the need for a more powerful console, and that’s okay. From my perspective, though, I would greatly enjoy seeing a Tears of the Kingdom on a Nintendo console that, for the sheer visual impact, can compete with other platforms. I agree that gameplay is more important and that Nintendo has still produced a work that, in some aspects, surpasses the competition (like physics). In a sense, Tears of the Kingdom is evidence that ideas and abilities matter more than mere power. At the same time, brute power also holds its significance, and I believe that updating to current standards is a good and right thing to do; otherwise, we’d still be playing on the NES (and forgive me, but in that case, I might have stopped playing a long time ago). We need to move forward, and in this sense, Nintendo isn’t doing that. The point is: they’ve created something like this on the Switch, but can you imagine what they could have achieved with a more powerful console? What a pity.
The dungeons… aren’t dungeons
Everyone has their opinion and vision of what The Legend of Zelda is or isn’t, but the iconic dungeons have always been a cornerstone of the series since 1986. As I wrote in 2017 regarding Breath of the Wild, it’s true: the series has partially returned to its roots in terms of the sense of exploration and discovery of the world, yet it also presents a new formula that not all fans appreciate. Speaking personally, since I started with the masterpiece on the Nintendo 64, I’m deeply attached to all the 3D installments and much less to the 2D/handheld ones (which I’ve always considered, based on personal taste, inferior and, from OoT onwards, less significant in the overall scheme). And a game like Ocarina of Time at the time delivered precisely this: freedom, discovery, surprise, a living world… and fantastic dungeons! Majora’s Mask was even more alive, lacking only in dungeon quantity, not quality; The Wind Waker may not have the series’ best dungeons, but at least it has them, and nothing provided a sense of freedom like setting sail on the open sea; Twilight Princess has exceptional dungeons, and Skyward Sword might even surpass it. Skyward Sword’s big flaw was abandoning the vastness and freedom of an open world, not letting us truly inhabit that world, yet it still managed to be a magnificent Zelda. Now it almost seems like Aonuma and company are “ashamed” of the more or less linear approach the series had, but why? Linear doesn’t equate to bad or inferior. Furthermore, except for Skyward Sword, in every Zelda I’ve played, the sense of exploration and the joy of discovery have always been perceived, whether it’s setting off on the open sea or galloping on Epona (Skyward Sword is truly the only case that was difficult to digest in this regard). Zelda has ALWAYS been about the love of exploration. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom accentuate this feeling, but they “forget” (probably intentionally) to provide us with the other side of the coin: the dungeons, which are also a part of exploration and discovery and half of Zelda’s heart. Unfortunately, even though it can’t be considered a true flaw of the games, as a fan of the series, this is the aspect that saddens and disappoints me the most.
Repetitive elements and recycling
This is perhaps the real flaw (and only?) of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. There are too many activities repeated ad nauseam: from Korok seed puzzles to signpost guy to the exploratory structure of the underground/sky and some shrines/side quests, not to mention the same cutscene repeated four or five times in the main quest. The risk is to tire the player. In this sense, it might have been better to eliminate some content or fill certain parts of the map with more interesting missions. It’s not anything tragic, mind you, because given the underlying philosophy of absolute freedom, the game never forces us to do anything against our will. Nonetheless, it’s somewhat bothersome. Even recycling Hyrule and the structure of Breath of the Wild is something I didn’t like. All things considered, given the triple nature of the world, it’s not a crippling issue, but from a Zelda game, one would still expect something different.
Nitpicking
I don’t like that weapons break, but it’s a mechanic I accept; it has its ludic sense (the Master Sword, however, remains my favorite). I don’t like the way weapons interact with the terrain (when they extend upon impact). It looks terrible, a lapse in style. I didn’t enjoy the Golem Assembly Center in the mission “The Five Sages” (the one where you have to assemble the golem), along with the related Mineru power: clunky, slow, and ineffective to use. I don’t like that the Triforce is absent from the story. I don’t like the constant gibberish verses the characters utter during dialogues, but it’s part of Zelda’s style, so one has to pretend not to notice. Of course, if perhaps they had removed this instead of the dungeons, I might have been happier…
MASTERPIECE!
Not taking into account what has been said so far, I consider The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom an incredible title, in my opinion superior in every way to its predecessor. It remains a brilliant work and is often surprising. A true masterpiece!