How Zelda: Breath of the Wild RUINS Tears of the Kingdom

Which game is better? Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild? Lemme know!

I've heard people say that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are two games that mutually ruin each other: Tears of the Kingdom makes Breath of the Wild look like a demo and Breath of the Wild makes Tears of the Kingdom look like a DLC.

I think that one factor that makes TotK less replayable than Breath of the Wild is - like you said, how vast and expansive it is - but also how ease of exploration requires a much bigger grind than BotW. In BotW, if you want to get around quickly, you can use a) a horse, b) Revali's Gale, or c) the Master Cycle if you have the DLC. In TotK, if you want to get around quickly, you can use a) a horse, or b) Zonai devices. But those zonai devices require battery packs. Battery packs require zonai crystallized charges. Those can either be collected from Yiga compounds or by processing charges you farm from zonai constructs. So you need to grind in the depths at Yiga camps or grind in the overworld/sky islands by taking out zonai enemies. The depths are much more efficient, but if you want to survive in the depths, you need recipes with Sundelions. Those are best found in the Sky islands, as are the actual zonai devices you'll be using from the gotcha machines. You could also grind to level up your armor, but the grind for that is much more daunting in TotK than BotW. And there's also so much armor to choose from, so leveling up every piece of armor you want takes even more time. The genius of the design of TotK is that the different areas - sky islands, overworld, and depths, become easier and more efficient to explore the more you explore the other areas. Sundelions help with the depths. Charges help with zonai devices, getting you from main story location to main story location easier. The game actively encourages you to explore every nook and cranny to get the most out of it. This makes a first playthrough really engaging, but a second playthrough feel much more time consuming.

i think its because when you first explore hyrule in botw its magical but because in totk you have already explored hyrule. i think that if totk was first you would have the same feeling.

I also don’t like TOTK compared to BOTW. I think it’s because the story doesn’t feel as grand as it could be. For me knowing that TOTK is a sequel to BOTW makes it feel that they ignored things that happened in BOTW. Like for example, where is all of the guardian technology and divine beasts? It feels that they just ignored the previous game story wise. Guardian technology could easily be written off as an attempt to replicate Zonite technology or something along those lines. They could’ve dismantled the divine beasts as they were major threats to the people of Hyrule. It feels like wasted potential story wise. While I love the gameplay of TOTK I get pulled out of the immersion of the game whenever bad story beats occur.

There is actually a way to get the ascend shrine first, there's a whole pathway that goes along opposite side of the snow area, you can even get the battery on that alt path.

I have had the exact same feeling. Here is a metaphor that I've come to: Classic Zelda games are like scaling an epic mountain, with each dungeon and item being another step higher. Breath of the Wild is more like a leisurely stroll in a park: multiple paths and you feel like you can take your time enjoying nature. Tears feels like taking a jog on a treadmill. You can set different speeds, but after doing a lot, there isn't as much of a sense of progress. After all, you can spend three hours wandering the depths and only really come out with some light roots and enough Zonite for a battery cell or three. I agree that it just feels overwhelming. I've played Breath 6 times to completion by now (all shrines, but not all Korok seeds), but I've only done the same for Tears once, despite giving it a good college try two more times, I just start feeling like it is work as opposed to exploration.

I loved the additions of ToTK I think people severaly underestimate how many little things changed on the map, for me discovering regions again and seeing what changed was a pleasure. The zonai devices and new powers adds a whole new dimension to exploration that BoTW didn't have at all, I never enjoyed simply traveling in a game as much as I did in ToTK The story, people complain but really, I disagree. Am I the only one who thought getting the story in a random order added a sensation of mystery ? It felt like I was an archeologist uncovering bits of informations here and there and let my imagination try to piece them together "She died ? How did that happen ?!" "Oh so his attacks failed, I assume he then pretended to surrender" "Ganondorf tricked them ? But why was he in the castle" "Oh shit those tears are that powerful...but I think ganondorf had one" Getting part of the picture is like a mystery to uncover, sure a few can ruin a lot of suspens if you get them too early, but those are usually the farthest from the center places so if you go get them early that's probably on purpose. As for progression, I dunno, I never felt like I came back from exploring the dealth of the sky islands empty handed. The game encourage you to rotate the three areas, the dealth for battery so you can drive around the world for food, so you can explore the sky islands for light flowers and new blueprints, so you can use those blueprints to explore the dealth faster...ect Tears of the Kingdom is a great sequel that took what was unique with the first and pushed it to new heights. And I am tired of people prentending it doesn't deserve to be a sequel because "it's the same map" or "the gameplay is too similar" when 90% of the sequels in exitence don't do nearly as much as TOTK to deserve to be their own game.

Watching a Dylonic video is like eating Kellogg's Frosted Bran cereal with condensed milk

I have done all shrines, light roots, sky islands and caves and it was so much fun… but it felt like it lack something… there was soo much good stuff but most of the great stuff was only found in the main quest while it botw it was found by walking in a random direction. Also totk was lacking in immersion for me. The exploration in botw was a reward within itself while in totk it feels like they have to reward you with something for exploration. And it was also lacking in charm… one of my favorite moments from totk was following a chicken in kakariko and that might sound childish but it reminded me of the charm that botw had. Also Eiji Aonuma doesn’t hate the older style of Zelda, he was the one who directed them, he just finds the new Zelda better. I assume he also sees the issues that the new Zelda has and is trying to find ways to fix them, I think he know that the new Zelda formula is a work in progress.

I agree with you completely, if I had to pick one, it would always be BotW, even though TotK is an incredible game. Most of it for me is purely subjective, and based on my life at the time I played each game. With BotW I definitely came at it from the other direction - while you experienced it at 13, I experienced it at 47. At the time I found myself suddenly unemployed after working in the same field for 20 years, and unemployment in middle age is frightening and ugly. I knew I would find another job, but I also knew due to the nature of my work that it would be at least 6 or 8 months, and that's if I was lucky. I had just gotten a Switch and was anxious to dive in, having been a Zelda fan since the NES days when I was in high school. I figured I'd spend some of my down time playing BotW, and wow, did I ever. I basically cloistered myself for a couple months and did nothing but play this game. The many, many hours of gameplay were amazing, but just as amazing was simply living in that world. Some days, instead of actual gameplay, I would go back to the woodcutter's cabin, don the warm doublet and chop some trees. Some nights, I would go to the beach east of Lurelin out by the Kah Yah Shrine, build a fire, and just sit (crouch) on the beach under the night sky. The wide open spaces, the incredible soundtrack, the lonely but beautiful atmosphere - the game was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it. TotK was amazing, and I have countless hours in it as well, but I really can't imagine anything ever being able to top my memories of playing BotW, exactly when and under the exact circumstances I played it. It's not just a cherished gaming memory for me, it's a cherished memory, period.

Great video! I'm so glad someone else is feeling what I've been. I haven't been playing much of TOTK because...well, I'm bored. I restarted the game after finishing the story to get the dup glitches back (full time jobs and life responsibilities) and I'm bored. I don't have the time or passion to go back in. I don't want to nor have time to grind. And I absolutely do not like how Nintendo's patches made it very clear "THIS is how we want you to play" in a game that's supposed to be part of the greatest open-world engines. I yelled in frustration when I had to jump through useless hoops to get the paraglider, there's so much slow exposition progress, blocked areas that required mandatory quest completions to access (ringed ruins), I'm overwhelmed with the amount of tasks and game mechanics to use for them, Link is the most blandest of all versions with no sign of any emotion during interactions and emotional cutscenes, and so much more. There's a lot that's improved on (I love exploring caves and wells), but I'm enjoying BotW way more.

The problem I personally always had between both games is that familiarity that has just enough but a bad distinction a lot similar to "I loved making this story but what would be better is if I split it into 2 different ones and leave the holes up to the readers minds and not bother proof reading some of it at all". Yeah I had fun but it doesn't feel as complete as I hoped. Yes I am aware of the circumstances the game had originally lol

I like BOTW and TOTK the same amount.

Both games are phenomenal, 10/10. I adore the gameplay mechanics in TotK. There are countless solutions to every problem and coming up with an idea that actually works is so satisfying. The nostalgia for BotW is real, but TotK gets the edge for me

Oh my god, when I was watching thought this video had at least a couple 10k views to realise that you have 223 subscribers and only 7.8k views. You deserve so much attention this video is so well put together. Keep up the good work.

Breath of the Wild was my favorite video game until I played Tears of the Kingdom. That said, I still love BotW and will be playing through it for a 9th time this year before my next (and 3rd) TotK run. I feel like the negatives you mentioned in TotK make sense, and some of them I can agree with. Even so, I still believe it's overall the superior game. BotW is a comfy game for me because of the impact it had on me at the time I played it, right after release. That won't ever change, and I should always be able to go back to it whenever. But TotK blew me away so much with the insane amount of stuff you can do, the ridiculous flexibility of the Ultrahand power, and all the extra cool stuff to do that I will definitely be returning to it more over time.

I am really disappointed with TotK's story. The gameplay and mechanics and everything are GREAT, but the story makes me not want to finish TotK. Why is Ganondorf trying to topple Hyrule? Where is the Triforce? How is the Master Sword able to finally defeat Ganon when it was broken by him in a weakened state? Why does no one remember Link? Etc. Even if TotK were the first game or a standalone and BotW didn't exist, I still think it would be disappointing. There was so much mystery in BotW, but TotK is very matter-of-fact. The mysteries in TotK seem to be random attempts at making them interesting. "Oh, look. ANOTHER ancient sage." "The Sheikah tech is gone. Because mystery."

The main part where I think TotK fails to meet BotW is its story. The story in TotK is really good, but it is written for a more linear style of Zelda. It doesn’t really fit into the gameplay style of BotW whose story perfectly worked with the games structure.

Breath of the Wild is definitely better. No hate to Tears of the Kingdom but I easily love BOTW more