Zelda Burnout

Let's talk about the recent shift in opinions toward The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and why fans are burnt out.

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[breaden]

I got worn out because I had just finished BotW before getting TotK. I’ve finished Skyward Sword and am playing Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time while on break from TotK.

[JaisonLJ]

7 years after my first playthrough in BotW I still remeber a lot of specific moments, such as my first death for example (it was falling from Temple of Time btw). And 9 months after my first playthrough in TotK I already forgot most of those things. In 2017 I beat BotW and I thought I would never do all 120 shrines, but then I went back and did not just shrines but all koroks, all locations, all side missions, even all the armors and all of it's upgrades, and then a lot of that again in Master Mode. In TotK it was the oposite, I played thinking I would do everything, but after I beat it once, I finished a side mission or two, and then already stopped playing completely. It's kinda sad.

[B-otxx]

I truly wish I could understand the sentiments that this game didn’t change enough, really. But for me, it absolutely changed enough. I thought we were just getting Sky Islands, and until that Title Reveal trailer, I didn’t think we’d get anything underground. And even after that trailer, I thought it’d be like excavation missions sectioned off from the main game. But what I got was nothing from what I was imagining. What I got was Sky Islands that were even more serene than in the trailers. A physics engine that I could fiddle with whenever I wanted. Caves that I could explore to get useful items and cool trinkets. The Depths, an underground “Dark World” variant to Hyrule, with Master Kohga waiting for my arrival. Skyview Towers that launched me into the air instead of just sitting there. A story that pulled at my heartstrings every step of the way. Music that elaborated upon Breath of the Wilds original vision. Dungeons that were short and sweet, while still having a bit of mystery to them. A gut-wrenching Side Quest where I got to watch Hudson’s daughter become big enough to move out to Gerudo Town to become a real woman. And an ending for the ages. This game is nothing like Breath of the Wild to me. And I’ve gone back several times to see how I feel. I can understand if it wasn’t enough for some people, but it certainly was for me. Tears of the Kingdom is an art piece, and I will love it forever.

[thewhitematstudio]

I took a break from this game last year and have had a hard time getting back into it in order to complete the main story. Some of that is my fault but you are onto something with this video. The unique experience I had with BOTW just isn’t present in this game.

[FrankTheDino]

Totk was good but I miss the essence of Zelda that made it special. Playing ocarina and majora for the first time. Any of the top down games. Exploring skyloft, navigating the seas, traversing the twilight. Botw and Totk are amazing in their own right, but there’s too much of a unique change between the styles. Regardless, I’m excited for what’s next.

[ChampionHero]

I think for me, the biggest let down was that there were so many story gaps, which is a real shame as those story gaps would have made up for some of the repetitive gameplay. The fact that there were hardly any links back to BOTW, despite being a direct sequel bugged me.. What happened to the Sheikah and all their tech? Why does no-one remember me literally saving the kingdom just a few years ago? The Sky islands and underworld felt a bit wasted and there really needed to be a lot more story - who were the Zonai and what actually happened to them? Why did their architecture change so much and why did the sky islands randomly appear? I was REALLY hoping for story links back to TP and SS but the story whilst interesting felt a bit weak and Ganondorf wasted. FTR I love TOTK. It's a great game. Does it feel as fresh as BOTW did? Probably not. I recently finished it after taking a break from it for a couple of months, but I still have loads of the underworld to explore and more shrines but don't feel the need to rush back. Personally I didn't really get the crafting either... I'm hoping the next one can bring all of what made the 'new' Zelda's good, but bring back the story centric gameplay with the sense of progression and proper, puzzle solving dungeons. I dont want shrines again..

[gunit]

I lost interest as well in Totk. Great game, but I have 866 hours in breath of the wild, and 88 hours in on Totk. Honestly, I prefer Breath of the Wild's champions and story. Who else misses Revali's Gale??

[neveuxelisabeth]

I played breath of the wild 3 months before totk and finished 2 days before the launch of totk. I aas so devastated that all i had done was wrecked but I think it gave me more of an insentive to bring back things to normal and save everyone. Seeing the fairy fountains gone? Devastated! Lurelin under attack by the pirates? That really got to me. The Depth were wildly overwhelming, but there are so many beautiful details to this game, i wish i could forget everything to play it with the same surprises and discoveries. And if at the end I did feel burn out, it is because I played 375 hours of totk ( found all well, all sages wills, all shrines, lit up all the lightroots ), probably had a few all nighters…right after finishing a few months of botw. But none the less I go back to it sometimes. It was so much fun!

[joshuajohnson]

Yeah it sucks I played hours of totk but stopped after the fourth dungeon and haven’t returned yet to finish it which is a shame. I do want to jump back on and beat it but it’s making me miss old style Zelda even more and i still think they could accomplish this even in open world to have a balance to please both fans

[EtheRenard]

I totally agree. TotK isn't a bad game. Lasagnas are delicious, but after eating pastas, tomatoes and cheese for 6 years, it's a disappointing move to say this is new.

TotK feels that way because I played and replayed BotW for more than 1000 hours. I loved it, even if it was repetitive. I was like, I'm gonna do every little step at a time, taking a different path each new playthrough. There were some things alerting my curiosity, but I was able to put the Switch down and separate every play time. It was calm. TotK feels too much. Not only that, but you can feel that it's done in a lazy way. Koroks, shrines, fairy upgrades (that aren't even balanced to the game... lizalfos tails...), ect.

TotK is one of the few Zelda game that I will probably never touch again.
After Age of Calamity, I already felt that burnout of having the same universe, but then I realised how it wasn't just the Sheikah tech, but the whole progression that is boring with time. Funny enough, I remember predicting a sequel with a magic book instead of a Sheikah slate, and even though that's a arm, it casts magic lol

That's kinda dumb, because we somehow tend to not like novelty but then be like "oh it was great, I was just a grumpy old man". With TotK, it was the opposite. I liked it, I thought it was going to be in my top 5 Zelda games, because it has dragons (I love dragons), because the cutscenes are so great. But the game itself lacks of everything to be considered enough for a new game.

Having the longest game isn't the goal Nintendo should reach. Minish Cap was very short, but it did great. Cadence of Hyrule is very short but I want to play again after beating the final boss. A game doesn't have to be long. It has to be fulfilling.

[SkyLinkTheory]

Underwater, Horizontal Expansion of Land (Unlike Sky/Depths Verticality), Story Evolution, and Lack of Settlements & NPCs in Sky/Depths... TOTK is a solid game by achieving bare minimum for what each new Zelda entry is as an evolution. This game should have came no later than 2022, personally I think late 2021. Now the painful punch is that are we gonna have to wait 6+ years for another large scale Zelda entry after one that felt too derivative of the previous? Here's hoping that Legend of Zelda Switch 2 has had some development already and comes earlier than 2027... 🍻

[matraclm]

I have had the same opinion of TOTK ever since the final trailer: I think BOTW is better. Even before playing it, I knew I would return to BOTW as soon as I would finish it. TOTK is a huge game, but BOTW did not NEED more. I still play BOTW, have clocked so far more than 1000 hours on it, and am still adding to that.

[nickk]

Everything I do while exploring Tears of the Kingdom is something I did in Breath of the Wild. The sky wasn’t as substantial and the depths were boring.

[Milkyway-Galaxy]

Tears of the kingdom is my favorite Zelda game and I played majority of series. It has its flaws but what game doesn’t

[kckefk]

Burnout dor games is so common nowadays.
As kids many of us could play games with hours on ends.
As we grow up we change

[jamesfilyawDigginGabe]

Ill be real, i super enjoy totk. But to me, it just didnt feel different enough from botw. It's a fun game, i love it, but i dont think it deserved to be up there for goty with games like BG3. It really just feels like a botw dlc, furthered by their absolute refusal to add anything to totk, even through dlc.

Not a bad game, just more of the same to me.

[saphira]

Me it took a long time for me to get back into zelda after BOTW but TOTK im both disappointed and ultimately i feel betrayed there is sooo much repetition in the "dungeons" and it feels like a cop out to me. I'm not going to lie i was looking forward to it but it kind of fell flat to me especially with how easy the bosses are

[Elitek]

my problem is, i have 500 hours into multiple breath of the wild playthroughs before totk came out. my first playthrough of totk was about 95 hours, a near completionist playthrough. my second playthrough i tried a few months ago burnt me out around the 35 hour marker, and i think its a combination of of the copy/paste formula that totk shares with botw, and the fact that i played botw so much over the years that even though totk was a more special game, i had already seen every ounce of hyrule on botw, and there wasnt enough on totk to keep me invested after one playthrough. if you've played tears of the kingdom before botw, congratulations, you've played breath of the wild on it's finished setting, and you dont have to play botw unless you want to since almost none of the lore was even spoken of from the first game other than zonai.

while ill probably go back to it eventually after palworld, enshrouded, once human, and red dead redemption two, to say its anywhere near the replayability of something like valheim which i have 700 hours into, 7 days to die (980 hours, ive owned it since it came out and played every alpha), or minecraft, its still a game that will be replayed, but not enjoyed nearly enough as i did the first time.

they could've changed this burnout feeling by giving us a valid reason to come back in the form of a dlc or two like what happened with botw, but they arent planning any release dlc or bonus content to the game and that nearly kills its replayability if you've played botw even just a few times.

[deviousdoggo]

Man I feel it really, I couldn't even get through 2 hours of totk. I love Zelda it was a childhood staple in my house, but honestly I'm over it for now. After bg3 you could give elden ring a spin, gives off that breath of the wild vibe with a fresh universe to get lost in.

[theisheep]

Your words sum up precisely what most people feel about this game. The 6 year wait simply wasn't worth it and that can't be stressed enough. I had so many high hopes for this game with it releasing at the perfect time right at the end of my college exams. But a couple hours into playing the game and exploring the surface, it became stale so quickly and disappointingly. Discovering that the story was told by memory cutscenes once again made that disappointment even worse. Don't even get me started on the shameful letdown that the Sky Islands were...