It is hard to believe but the beloved The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom recently celebrated its first anniversary and to celebrate the occasion Japanese gaming publication Nintendo Dream caught up with both Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi. Nintendo Dream asked the seasoned pair if they had any special messages they wanted to share for the anniversary and you can read their responses down below.
Eiji Aonuma
The other day, I heard about an incident when a kid excitedly said “I played Tears of the Kingdom for over 1,000 hours”, and the mother smiled in response, saying, “I didn’t know about that!”
Of course, I was shocked that one could play a single game that much, but I was also surprised that the mother accepted that.
There are a lot of people around me who happily tell me about how they played this game for many hours, and I am really glad to have made a game that people enjoyed like that.
Zelda is a longstanding series, and I would like to utilize the experience from this title to create more games that everyone can enjoy in the future, so please look forward to it. To all those who have played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, thank you very much.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi
It has nearly been a year since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. During this time, I have observed how everyone around the world has been playing it and enjoying it in many different ways, which has brought joy to the staff as a whole.
In particular, the Ultrahand, one of the new features added that allows you to attach and detach objects together at will, has continued to lead to unique vehicles and creations that we had never imagined; this has made me feel that we succeeded in implementing one of the core concepts we had been aiming for, which was to make a game that embodies “Can you do it? Yes you can”, and so I am also pleased with that.
To have our game be played so much is an irreplaceable source of motivation to us development staff. Thank you very much.
Lastly, what I want to say now that a year has passed is that just like the predecessor, Breath of the Wild, this game’s story is structured so that the truth is gradually unraveled as you play, leading to surprising moments that make you go, “So that’s how it was”. It has been designed so that even after clearing it once, replaying the game while already knowing the truth allows you to realize things you did not notice on your first playthrough, and the same scenes or dialogue could seem completely different, so please enjoy finding new discoveries and experiences on a second playthrough.
Please continue to support The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Thanks to Greatsong1 for sending in the news tips!
The truth is unraveled as you play.
Yet to most casuals not really as the story has to be found around Hyrule in memories…out of order in most cases
Linear stories where better in past games
I finished TotK back in September (by finished, I mean I did every shrine & lightroot, did every main story mission, got every memory, and beat Ganondorf) and haven’t touched it since.
Meanwhile I’m currently on my 6th run of BotW, and I feel an itch to play it every handful of months.
Don’t get the wrong idea- I think Tears is an incredible game, from both a gameplay and technical standpoint, and I very much enjoyed it. The tools you get access to in Tears like Ultrahand and Fuse and Ascend just didn’t vibe with me the way the runes of Breath do. In fact, for most of the game, I forgot I could build contraptions that could help me in combat, and I approached every fight like I was still playing BotW but with a few new tactics like puffshrooms to get free sneakstrikes and muddlebuds to make the stronger enemies fight for me until they were the last one left for me to kill.
The Sky Islands were also just… underwhelming with not much to do on any of them that weren’t the starting one, and that even felt like a copy-paste of the Great Plateau from BotW, down to one shrine being in an environment you need cold protection to safely reach. The three sky labyrinths that correlated to the ones on the surface from BotW all had the same gameplay loop that got boring by the end of the first one I did. And it’s disappointing that the sky felt so lackluster because a lot of the game’s marketing focused on it like that’s where they wanted players to spend a lot of time, when there’s just… not much up there. The same problem happens with The Depths, and while that ended up being an entire second map which genuinely impressed me, outside of three or four story beats, again there isn’t much to do down there besides farming for materials, an occasional treasure hunt, or stumbling around in the pitch-black between lightroots because you didn’t know there was a ten-story wall in front of you until you got within five feet of it. At least the roots were a good way of figuring out where shrines were on the surface and vice-versa.
I have to admit… I’m not a fan of Tears of the Kingdom. I have registered over 120 hours on the game and have made a hard STOP.
TOTK is not just Game of the Year in my book, it is one of if not the best video games of all time! I am not currently able to explain how deeply fun and enjoyable this game experience has been. Link and various characters, the plot, scope, capabilities, epic fun (jumping & gliding contraptions, low gravity, etc.) music, environments such as the radiant sky islands, challenging enemies, and the list goes on! I am so grateful to those who helped make it possible to have the good things in the game that made for such a deeply positive experience and impact on my life (you did an Amazing job and I hope you always remember that). THANKS SO MUCH for the Powerfully Amazing BOTW (also one of if not the best games of all time i.e., Thunderclap Flurry Rush) and TOTK!
Once the honeymoon phase ended, Tears wasn’t all that great to me. I really wanted it to finally knock Wind Waker from my #1 spot but alas. For awhile, I actually believed it had done just that. WW, OoT, & MM are still my top 3 favorite entries. Doesn’t help that the end of the game felt more like an ending to the 2nd of a 3 act story. And NOT on par with Xenoblade Chronicles’ 2nd act which could have honestly been a “To be continued…” to set up a sequel.
Oh and… Wind Waker Ganondorf still best Ganondorf.
Are you ready? The next jump could take you to the top – only in Geometry Dash!