Zelda TOTK: 7 Essential Side Quests You Need to Do NOW

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is packed full of side quests! But which are most useful at the start? Well these are the quests we recommend you tick off your to-do list first, or run back and go get if you haven't already!

00:00 - Intro!
00:36 - Courage Island Skydiving Challenge
02:25 - A Mystery in the Depths
04:59 - Bargainer Statues
06:58 - Hero helmet hunting
09:08 - Zelda’s Golden Horse
12:04 - Misko’s Cave of Chests
14:43 - Gloom-Borne Illness
17:09 - Tell us your horse names!

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Outside Xtra is a companion channel to Outside Xbox, covering the wider world of gaming with weekly list videos, Let's Plays and shows with your hosts Ellen and Luke. Look for regular appearances by OG Outside Xboxers Andy, Jane and Mike, and generally more of the videos you love, about more of the platforms you enjoy, from a team now two people larger overall.

Thanks for watching and be excellent to each other in the comments.

[Kafaldsbylur]

Soon after first getting to my first stable, I captured a black and white horse who I registered under the name Oreo. It's only then that the stablemaster told me they still had my BotW horses. The first of those, who I had forgotten about, was a black and white horse named Oreo.

I guess I'm consistent in my naming

[ADPalF]

The most important side quest is going to Hateno Village and helping that farming family up the hill on the way to the Lab. Cause then you help people invent cheese in hyrule for the first time and you can make the first pizza. Which would be historically one of the most significant things Link has ever done.

[djdomain]

Should also note that doing the side quest for Josha to get autobuild also allows Robbie to go back to the lab at Hateno Village to give you the Purah Pad upgrades.

[dorianwiesner]

Additionally, enhancing the glide set to level 2 with a great fairy and wearing the full set negates ALL fall damage, no matter how long or fast you fall. You can jump down from the Stormwind Arch and still hit the bottom of Tanagar Canyon without turning Link into a heroic puddle of blood and organs

[theradiantdehd]

You forgot to mention the best thing about the glide armor. If you have the whole set and upgrade all three pieces twice it has a set bonus that allows you to have no fall damage.

[cefalu]

The frog suit is an absolute must and an absolute boon. That quest takes a while but it is 1000% worth doing ever. Being able to climb in the rain makes traversal so much better

[fishiwan]

I'd say if you want to experience the story in a semi-organic way, you should head to a geoglyph, find Impa, then go to the Forgotten Temple that she points you to. It'll give an in-game map to the geoglyphs, and tell you which order they go in to experience the Tears of the Dragon memories in chronological order. There's no tough fights, just exploration, discovery, and a lead to the best revelations not detailed in the main questline.

[Aaron-pjky]

Good note on the Bargainer statues, if you want to avoid paying for their locations:
Each Bargainer statue has a Hylia statue counterpart on the surface. Small Hylia statues found in the towns don't count. Their counterparts are the giant Hylia statues found in specific locations in Hyrule.

[angelicusOneiropolos]

I can't help but feel like Misko stole all of my armor whilst out surveying Hyrule with Zelda

[neosuduno]

You forgot about "Infiltrate the Yiga Hideout" which gives you the means to get some of the best abilities in the game, including something the Blademasters loved to use against you.

[SumG]

I'd argue one of the most useful things to find in the early game isn't a side quest at all, but instead finding the numerous maps to key features of Hyrule that are present if you look for them. So far I've found at different points: a map of the major population centers (in the Emergency Shelter of Lookout Landing), a map of the geoglyph locations (back of Forgotten Temple), a map of Yiga Clan strongholds (in any Yiga stronghold you might run across), a map of Cherry Blossom tree locations (present in a number of stables), and map of all stables in Hyrule (on the table in front of Traysi in the Clover Gazette).

You can take a picture of these maps and keep them in the Purah Pad to reference whenever you need to. It can make polishing off a number of side quests much easier.

[lasercraft]

I would also recommend visiting Hateno Village. There's a LOT of really fun quests to do there, many of which unlock unique items. If you do Cece's quest you can get a special hat (which... uh... looks nice I guess... :/), and if you do the mayor's quest you can unlock Hateno Cheese. There's another quest that lets you unlock Sun Pumpkins too, and the Dye Shop owner will make special paraglider patterns if you bring him pictures of certain enemies (he'll tell you which ones). Plus, you can also visit Zelda's house (formerly Link's house in Breath of the Wild). Talking to Cece while wearing the Hylian hood also lets you change its appearance so Link has the hood down like in the game art.

There's also the quest where you save Lurelin Village from pirates, and then help them rebuild. Its a good one if you for some reason want to see Bolson again.

Terry Town also has a wholesome quest where you help out Hudson's daughter prepare to visit Gerudo Town, and doing that quest will let you buy your own plot of land to build your own custom house.

[Rosslefrancais]

Leaving an offering at a cherry tree reveals all the caves in the area!!?!?

So many wild things in this game, love it

[particle_wave]

As a tip, all 3 glide armor pieces are super easy to find. The islands you win them on are the only 3 groups of islands that are stacked completely vertically in a tall column. You can see all 3 from basically anywhere.

[Ryu_D]

The stable trotter quest is a must do as early as possible. It unlocks the ability to upgrade armor, which makes exploring so much easier.

[theApeShow]

The skeleton horses in the depths are mountable. Riding them with the Hobgoblin mask makes for some efficient exploration.

[paxmelchizedek]

I feel like it's worth mentioning with the Lucky Clover Gazette that you need to join as a reporter before you can start the Stable Trotter's quest and reap the benefits thereof.

[Infernal_Screech]

"So you can look just like Dark Link from the Ocarina of Time, This honestly made my day, I had the same exact reaction 🤣 5:50

[psychronia]

I also want to suggest doing a certain questline that starts when you visit the old Yiga Clan hideout from BotW. It'll also unlock a new stamina-based ability for Link. It's really good.

[andrewenderfrost]

I named all my horses after Celtic horse gods and goddesses following the naming scheme of Epona. My Goldie is named Belinos. He was additionally a god of the sun so the gold horse thing works