LittleTom on Nostr: TotK is in a weird position where it is hard to recommend that someone start with ...
TotK is in a weird position where it is hard to recommend that someone start with BotW if they have not played it already because there's so much redundancy, it's hard to imagine playing them without a huge break inbetween and I think many would simply rather pick one and be done with it.
But so much is developed for returning players - towns and NPCs in particular are simply not written for first impressions, even though they tried a little bit by having many of the NPCs somehow not recognize Link. Tarrey Town seems like nothing but a half baked oddity viewed without context from the first game. Kakariko is no longer the hidden ninja village awaiting the hero to support him in his quest, its' current residents almost entirely preoccupied with a bunch of rocks that fell out of the sky and accommodating the tourists and researchers they have attracted.
Many overworld gimmicks or attractions are also removed because, well, most of us already did them, generally replaced by several more scattered elsewhere, which is good but also leads to many parts of the world losing the purpose they were originally designed for, making those areas feel a bit hollow.
It comes across like a sequel and an enhanced super turbo rerelease of BotW at the same. It's almost like the Ultimate/G/portable/ versions of older Monster Hunter games where it's like, yeah, certain things are missing or diminished but there's very little reason to play the original now - except, in TotK's case, many things about it hardly function if you have not.
But so much is developed for returning players - towns and NPCs in particular are simply not written for first impressions, even though they tried a little bit by having many of the NPCs somehow not recognize Link. Tarrey Town seems like nothing but a half baked oddity viewed without context from the first game. Kakariko is no longer the hidden ninja village awaiting the hero to support him in his quest, its' current residents almost entirely preoccupied with a bunch of rocks that fell out of the sky and accommodating the tourists and researchers they have attracted.
Many overworld gimmicks or attractions are also removed because, well, most of us already did them, generally replaced by several more scattered elsewhere, which is good but also leads to many parts of the world losing the purpose they were originally designed for, making those areas feel a bit hollow.
It comes across like a sequel and an enhanced super turbo rerelease of BotW at the same. It's almost like the Ultimate/G/portable/ versions of older Monster Hunter games where it's like, yeah, certain things are missing or diminished but there's very little reason to play the original now - except, in TotK's case, many things about it hardly function if you have not.