Daily Debate: Did Tears of the Kingdom Effectively Communicate a “Correct” Order to Collect the Geoglyphs?

One of the most high-profile quests in Breath of the Wild went by the name “Captured Memories” and involved seeking out specific locations in the game’s overworld to trigger remembrances of game’s backstory. The quest to find these “Memories” fit the story and scenario well, as our amnesiac hero was already looking to piece together the clues of the past in order to suss out what exactly happened 100 years before the game began. Slowly helping Link recover his memories of the days before the Calamity proved extremely rewarding, and “Captured Memories” remains one of the most memorable (pun unintended) quests from Breath of the Wild for me personally.

Memories return in Tears of the Kingdom in the form of the “Dragon’s Tears” Main Quest. The general idea remains the same — Link must seek out specific locations in the overworld to unlock memories of the past — but rather than finding these locations as depicted in Sheikah Slate photographs, he must find a set of large natural phenomena known as geoglyphs. These glowing designs etched into the ground across Hyrule depict various objects and characters from the game, such as the Purah Pad and Rauru. Link must find these geoglyphs and scour their totality to locate small pools within; finding a pool will unlock a memory of ancient Hyrule.

Much like the Memories of Breath of the Wild — a game that emphasized player freedom and nonlinear gameplay — the Memories of Tears of the Kingdom can be collected in any order the player chooses. Thus, the story depicted in these Memories can be consumed in any order as well. The potential nonlinearity of the “Dragon’s Tears” storyline, as later parts of the story can be collected before the earlier parts, has been met with some criticism, even within the Zelda Dungeon staff. Scenes with crucial exposition may be found late in the game, while shocking revelations may be found very early. This quirk in particular has led some to decry the story presentation of Tears of the Kingdom.

Defenders of Tears of the Kingdom‘s story presentation, particularly in regards to the “Dragon’s Tears” quest, have asserted that the game actually communicates a “correct” order to locate the geoglyphs and unlock their story. Within the Forgotten Temple, the first objective of the quest, the player is shown a map of all the geoglyphs across Hyrule, and Impa requests that Link investigate any that he comes across during his travels. But interestingly, that map room also depicts the geoglyphs’ designs along its walls.

The geoglyph initially observed by Impa in the “Impa and the Geoglyphs” quest, the one players are undoubtedly encouraged to seek out first, is leftmost on the wall; the remaining designs are shown in a sequence corresponding to their respective Memories’ numbers. So, in essence, the chronological order of Tears of the Kingdom‘s Memory cutscenes is telegraphed by artwork within the Forgotten Temple; from left to right, these design show the “correct” order to collect  the geoglyphs and unlock their respective Memories.

But, despite that fact, was that correct order communicated effectively?

An informal survey of the Zelda Dungeon staff showed that a majority missed this “intended” order within the Forgotten Temple. Most players simply unlocked Memories as they came upon geoglyphs organically. That fact, on some level, leads me to believe that the game did not effectively communicate the correct order to collect the geoglyphs, even though a correct order was in some way communicated. In my opinion, more should have been done to help the player understand that the geoglyphs should be approached in a very specific order.

An even more important question would be: Should there have been a “correct” order to collect the geoglyphs in the first place?

Asking players to ignore certain points of interest on the map as they freely explore and thus come back to those points at a later time seems completely antithetical to the central design of both Tears of the Kingdom and its predecessor. These games emphasize player freedom and nonlinearity in all aspects of their presentation, so it makes little sense to ask players to approach a single quest in a strict order, especially when that quest can be completed out of order anyway. In my opinion, if the player was meant to see the Memory cutscenes in a certain order, those cutscenes should have been unlocked in sequence as players discovered the geoglyphs in any order they wanted.

But what do you think? Did Tears of the Kingdom effectively communicate the “intended” order to collect its geoglyphs? Should there have been an intended order in the first place? Join the debate below!

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