Tears of the Kingdom Is TotK Just Too Similar to BotW For Some People?

[DivineDragoness]

So I guess this doubles as my introduction, hi guys and gals nice to meetcha

So I've used the main site for a while now and didn't realize there was a forum until like three days ago. And I was actually pretty shocked that there seems to be quite a few people here that aren't too crazy about Tears of the Kingdom. That was a little surprising because I've pretty much just seen universal praise everywhere, from YouTube to Nintendo Life to Reddit. That's not a bad thing either, because even though I haven't beaten it yet, I've found myself just kind of whelmed with it so far you know? Seeing other people's reason for not being super into it made me think about my own reason and I wanted to see if that resonated with anyone else.

I loved Breath of the Wild when it first came out, literally played it all through high school and college and never really stopped. I was super hyped for Tears just like everyone else, but I found myself getting burnt out with Tears. Which never, even happened with Breath. I think the reason may be that, for a lot of things, Tears is just way too similar. From knowing that the opening island will pretty much just be like the Great Plateau in structure, to there of course being four big things to take care of in the overworld before the last big thing, to finding special spot that unlock memories. It just all felt too similar for me to be super into it.

And I get it, the physics and abilities are different and there's the sky and underground. But the presentation, sounds, and general vibe was just so samey for me. I wonder if this is how people felt when Majora's Mask came out, because I didn't really anticipate it myself. I think maybe this feeling of "I already did this for like over 100 hours" is ultimately what's made me not automatically fall in love with the game like I did with Breath.

But I've chatted enough, anyone else feel the same? Just curious :*

 

[LordErec42]

I feel the same way, TotK largely feels like just playing BotW all over again. For someone who absolutely loved BotW that might be a good thing, but for me personally it was really disappointing since I didn't enjoy many of the gameplay aspects of BotW and found all the same friction points that annoyed me in BotW alive and well in TotK.

 

[LegendOfMeesh]

definitely me. I haven’t gotten very far, but I’ve already put the game down for the time being because it feels way too similar to me.

mostly I wish the world itself was more different other than the major additions of the sky and underground. feels like the same map with only slight changes.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

yes

 

[BloodyKun]

I don’t think there’s much of a different way they could have pulled off the same vibe. The entire experience is pretty contingent on already having been all over this particular Hyrule - and seeing what all has changed. That, and getting to experience far more freedom than we once had, with how much easier it is to get around, how there aren’t anywhere near as many quiet moments of solitude, how many more people there are to meet and help with the onslaught of monsters, exploring much more of the innards of Hyrule itself. Lacking any familiarity would take away much of that.

 

[Doc]

I can understand the dragon tear stuff feeling a bit too similar to the memories, but I think I found the story engaging enough that I forgave it.

But I think there’s enough differences to make me curious about what’s changed. Fusion and Zonai devices changed up combat and travel in a way that made me approach things differently compared to BotW.

 

[Shrimpdragon]

I find TotK tiring, feels like I have to do so much to achieve little.
Just cleared all the Pirates from Laurelin and having to go off underground to find enough Bomb flowers etc to get the job done has taken ages.
I find food etc is difficult to find and the only reason I have a healthy inventory is because I bought myself some amiibo cards.
Several times I have nearly put it down and gone back to BotW, but I keep plodding on, don’t know for how much longer tho!

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

yeah I've said before that this feels like a slightly different take on the same game since you're going through the same motions as botw, and even more so when I see people say that it even replaces botw as if this game is some kind of enhanced port rather than a sequel

 

[Turo602]

I can definitely see how there might be some fatigue when it's literally reusing the same map, visuals, and structure of the last game. It's not the same shock and feeling of going from a Wind Waker to Twilight Princess and then a Skyward Sword, where you knew you were getting a completely new experience from top to bottom.

Since I first played Breath of the Wild, I've always felt like it was setting the ground work for something better. Like a tech demo that's entire purpose was to teach players how to engage with its engine and interact with this new world, which itself was the highlight of the game and what set it apart from previous entries in the series. Now, people are starting to catch on with that very idea and even questioning the value of Breath of the Wild as a video game, when Tears of the Kingdom is literally the same game but with more years of development on top and there's definitely truth to that. Breath of the Wild is just Tears of the Kingdom lite now.

However, that's not to discredit Tears of the Kingdom either. As someone who first played through Breath of the Wild on the Wii U for 178 hours and then later spent another 238 hours with it on the Switch, I still felt an itch to revisit that world and the only thing that stopped me was the lack of multiple save files that would force me to delete all my progress if I wanted to start over again. So revisiting that version of Hyrule wasn't something that was going to bother me and with its open structure and huge map, it certainly wasn't going to feel repetitive. Even less now that Tears of the Kingdom cuts down on a lot of the traversal that was integral to Breath of the Wild by not just allowing you to create all sorts of useful vehicles, but also letting you ascend through ceilings, and giving you complete access to the sky as a vantage point.

Breath of the Wild was merely the bones for the meat that is Tears of the Kingdom which offers a much more complete and realized experience than Breath of the Wild, but with plenty of smart choices that streamlines the more tedious aspects of it for returning players. I'm currently 190 hours into Tears of the Kingdom and I'm definitely not bored by it or anywhere near done. But that could also be because this game is my answer to replaying Breath of the Wild.

With that being said, there are criticisms that can definitely be made from even someone like me who is enjoying the game as an extension of Breath of the Wild, like the lack of meaningful rewards. And I don't mean the typical side quest rewards that I took issue with in the last game either. Tears of the Kingdom actually manages to improve this aspect for me now that materials, recipes, and rupees play a much more significant role and are constantly awarded to you. My issue stems from the treasure chests that are scattered all across the depths and even hidden in caves as part of Misko's treasure hunt. Both of these elements are 2 of the largest additions to this game, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with their implementation, the rewards on the other hand are just so uninspiring.

This game already has an issue establishing a unique identity for itself to keep players invested, and on top of that, you're spending practically the majority of the game exploring areas and overcoming challenges for the same exact pieces of clothing you already earned in the last game. As someone who already had all the amiibo and scanned them to get the exclusive clothes and items in Breath of the Wild, it was a no brainer to do the same thing early on in Tears of the Kingdom. So imagine my disappointment when I realized all these items are the rewards for most of the interesting new content in the game. Sure, you can sell them off for a decent sum of money which you'll desperately need, but it's still just recycled content. It's a nice solution for those that don't have the amiibo, but therein lies the problem.

Tears of the Kingdom is a game that exists to fix a pre-existing game as opposed to a newly crafted experience that applies lessons learned from the previous game's shortcomings. If you've never played Breath of the Wild, play Tears of the Kingdom instead. If you want to revisit Breath of the Wild, just play Tears of the Kingdom. That is unless you're extremely passionate about its light story, those particular korok puzzles and shrines that were more of a means to an end anyway, or just really want to shoot guardians in the eyes and cut their legs off, and just absolutely adored the Divine Beasts and those underwhelming boss battles. Otherwise, you're not really getting anything from Breath of the Wild that you couldn't get from Tears of the Kingdom.

The unfortunate irony is that Breath of the Wild will always be the more important game that people will have stronger memories with, being the first of its kind and all. So while Tears of the Kingdom is the technically better game, it does very little to separate itself from Breath of the Wild in the way The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess made themselves distinct from Ocarina of Time. I even wonder how much of a role the Switch's dated hardware or even the current landscape of gaming has played into the direction Nintendo took with Tears of the Kingdom now that the bar has been set very high for what gamers should expect out of a Zelda game.

Nintendo is known for making very stylized games that have worked in their favor when developing on weaker hardware, which was likely the reason they went with the visual style presented in Breath of the Wild. To deviate from that might have revealed cracks in the hardware, especially when aiming for such a high bar. But in a world where people are still playing Minecraft, GTA V, and Fortnite, maybe Nintendo saw a similar vision for Zelda after Breath of the Wild.

While my time with Tears of the Kingdom is far from over, I do admit that I'm ready to move onto the next iteration of Zelda, built from the ground up for stronger hardware. Because the only way I'll tolerate revisiting this version of Hyrule in a third game, is if they make massive changes and improvements to the world itself, rework the story structure, and upgrade the visuals and performance. I think there's plenty they can do with new hardware to really shake up this formula, whether it be a completely new map and art style or even a third game to round out a Breath of the Wild trilogy. But I'm definitely ready for something much more striking and new looking/feeling that can evolve this open world formula much more dramatically than what we got with Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[Shrimpdragon]

Wouldn’t it be good if ’they’ could meld BotW with TotK?!?!

 

[Ultros]

Before I played this game for the first time, my definition as to whether this game would be a success for me is that it needed to have good dungeons, as the dungeons are my favourite aspect of Zelda games.

I found the intro large sky island to be engaging enough. So first impressions were solid. But as soon as I got down to the surface, I very quickly became irritated. Purah right away directs you to the same four regions as BOTW, there are again shrines around the map, and Hyrule Castle is clearly the same final place you must go. Once I realized Koroks would be the way to expand your inventory, and a lot of the music is the same, I nearly quit the game and traded it in.

I decided that I at least needed to give one dungeon a try, so went to the Rito area. I did throughly enjoy the ascent up to the Wind Temple, as it felt unique. The temple itself I found to be okay. The whole ark was a cool theme, but I found most of the puzzles to be too simple. The boss fight was really, really good, so I left that part of the game feeling okay.

I went to to Goron area next, and this worked much better for me. The ascent to the top of death mountain on the mine carts also felt unique, and I thought the depths were used really well as a lead in to the temple.

I absolutely loved the Fire Temple, although I approached this one differently. I turned off the flashing cursors showing you where the gongs were, and refused to use any items that were not available within the temple itself. There were a few puzzles where I got stuck on for a bit, or really had to think, which satisfied. I also liked the central mechanic of having the figure out how the mine cart track worked. And the music was absolutely incredible. Good boss fight too.

The Water Temple I thought was very, very mediocre, with a very poor theme. The one puzzle I got stuck on for an embarrassingly long period of the, the spinning tower, has nothing really to do with the dungeon theme.

I have saved the Lightning one for last, as I have heard it is the best one. In the meantime, I just finished lighting up all of the roots in the Depths, and overall the exploration of the Depths was decent enough. Now I am just going through the shrines on the surface.

So far satisfied with 1.5 dungeons out of 3. I do miss the traditional format of the dungeons though. I don’t understand why the dungeons themselves HAVE to be non-linear like the rest of the game, but thought the Fire Temple was a good compromise.

But yes, it does feel too much like BOTW.

 

[Volt]

Yes. My initial reaction to the Great Sky Island was "Ok, this is literally the Plateau again.". Then I realized it was a lot more linear and I couldn't warp, which made it feel like a bad Plateau.

I'm not going to act like TotK didn't work on and improve a lot of things, but having the same core issues of BotW just makes me want to play it instead because I like BotW more due to certain things (pacing, story).

 

[CynicalSquid]

It definitely feels a lot similar but I personally don’t see it as a bad thing. I feel like they improved on almost everything and it made me not want to go back to BOTW ever again (even though I still need to someday since I never played the dlc).

I guess I can see why a lot of people feel burned out by it. I feel like a good chunk of people on here at least have been playing BOTW since it came out and put hundreds of hours in it. I played it on Wii U when it came out and then never really touched it again. I did play it for a bit earlier this year on switch but I got really bored after a few hours and abandoned it. I actually had pretty low expectations for TOTK but I was presently surprised. I wasn’t a huge fan of BOTW and TOTK has the same template but I think it’s a far superior version of that template.

 

[Zettafleya]

In many ways TotK is just a better BotW.

It's strange that this is the case for many, as this has never really happened with the series before.
Ocarina and Majora had the same graphical style and general combat, as did the Oracle games, and A Link Between Worlds is very similar to its prequel.

But BotW and TotK mainly share the same world, combat, graphics and more, and they are identical in many ways. Thus, many may see them as clones of each other or something like that. The things that divide them are clear, and there are lots of them, but also perhaps too many similarities.

The overworld is mostly the same, so it just feels like going through BotW again, which people don't want. There's just too much similar stuff and not enough to separate them.

Maybe having all those Korok seeds to get didn't help either.