It's told better than Breath of the World's story but it's worse in terms of actual beats. Big disappointment if you ask me, bit the game itself was fire.
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So I'm resuming with my playthrough of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and I feel like the story is... better than BOTW? Better than most KT games?
- Thread starter Comrade Grogu
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Honestly dude, Calamity's story presentation (e.g., direction, cutscenes and voiceover) is so unutterably atrocious I had to play the game in a different language to preserve my sanity.
It shows how particular people are about what she can/cannot do. No one would question anything Link could do (e.g. if he acquired magic abilities, or, bows, rapiers, etc.), but they do for Zelda.
note that that poll was specifically about whether Zelda had the OPTION to use melee weapons, and people were opposed to it. It stands to reason that her portrayal and agency would be scrutinised similarly.
Age of Calamity rounds out Zelda's character arc in a meaningful way, which BotW unfortunately never did (although BotW2 could fix that).
And if you read the thread, you'll see that most people who've voted for that option simply wish for a unique playstyle for both Zelda and Link. You are malicously misrepresenting the poll's results.
Precisely—BotW sets up a lot of her character arc, but never us the opportunity to follow through on any of it as the game only has briefs glimpses of her most pivotal moments through flashbacks.
AoC makes good on validating her passion for technology and research, and her desire
to save Hyrule
Then people willfully misinterpreted the poll question despite the very specific language. And there are absolutely people who are specifically opposed to Zelda being barred from melee weapons (won't bother interpreting for what reasons here), as seeing that sentiment was the impetus for me making that thread, and plenty of people still said "no" even after I asked them to specify that they were opposed to the mere option of melee weapons for Zelda.
I skip the cutscenes in AoC, I don't quite know how anyone thinks the story/cutscenes are good in AoC or BOTW. Both are like juvenile cartoons where every line of dialog is some stoic nonsense.
I'm saying this as a hardcore zelda fan. The story/cutscenes havnt been good since TWW, and the more they've avoided story in the recent zeldas (BOTW, ALBW) the better.
I'm saying this as a hardcore zelda fan. The story/cutscenes havnt been good since TWW, and the more they've avoided story in the recent zeldas (BOTW, ALBW) the better.
I think the main thing is that, from my perspective, Zelda isn't Link, and her gameplay should reflect that. Some of the worst fan concepts for playable Zelda are just "Give her a tunic and the Master Sword". That isn't giving Zelda agency. That's inserting her into a style of agency already well-tread by a different character.
Zelda has her own abilities and her own skills that have been brought up from game to game. And I'd much rather see a game approach Zelda as Zelda rather than Zelda the Link cosplayer.
The "very specific language" where you apparently used the option "no swords" as a catchall for "melee weapons"?
And mere preference wasn't being conveyed, instead outward rejection of the OPTION to use those weapons. I'm sure some people misinterpreted the poll question, or just wanted to use that thread as an opportunity to share their very image of Zelda in their heads. But that was not what the thread was asking
If Zelda were playable in a mainline TLoZ title, would you want her to be have sword+shield (or other such weapons) as an option?
There's been discussion about this periodically—would you want a theoretically playable Zelda to be able to use swords? Or would you not want her to be able to fight that way?
www.resetera.com
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And the poll options are literally "swords as options" and "no sword options". Nothing is "very specific" about the usage of "other such options", no matter how much you pretend that you've actually asked about melee weapons in general (a term you didn't use in your OP at all). That might have been what you *wanted* to ask, but it's not what you actually did.If Zelda were playable in a mainline TLoZ title, would you want her to be have sword+shield (or other such weapons) as an option?
There's been discussion about this periodically—would you want a theoretically playable Zelda to be able to use swords? Or would you not want her to be able to fight that way?
I just finished, AoC today. The story felt predictable, saw the twist a mile away
But the characters is what, make it good.
The surprise is that they did it
But the characters is what, make it good.
The surprise is that they did it
and "swords" includes great swords, rapiers, etc. and "option" is all over
people understood, the sentiment was clear.
and "and such weapons" includes melee weapons, get off it. If people don't care to read and just want to be contrarian to reinforce how much they want Zelda to be solely a caster and mage, there's nothing I can do to stop that.
So then, what about spears, or daggers, or other melee weapon types? The poll only calls out swords as a specific weapon type.
The sentiment is indeed clear: the majority of people using the "no swords options" used it to express they want Zelda to have a unique playstyle, but keep on your bad faith argument where listening to people's sentiment is apparently only valid if it fits your agenda.
read the thread and see the numerous people saying specify they don't want Zelda to have the mere option to use any swords, and judge for yourselves.
Having read and posted throughout that entire thread, the sentiment was clear, and I will continue to frame the non-negligible number of people opposing Zelda using swords/"other such weapons" as " a lot of people don't like Zelda engaging in melee fights"
Having read and posted throughout that entire thread, the sentiment was clear, and I will continue to frame the non-negligible number of people opposing Zelda using swords/"other such weapons" as " a lot of people don't like Zelda engaging in melee fights"
I'll stop responding to them—the other thread is still open for responses if they want to complain there!
I absolutely hate posts like this. Just say "I hate stories in video games" and go
(and btw I've played BotW for like 30 mins and have never played AOC)
what
they like the more active, "present-tense" story of AC, which is a video game that has a story
I forgot the rule where you have to sword fight if you're going to have agency. People just want to see a differention so that she's not female Link but actually her own character with her own unique playstyle.
The point isn't whether people are in favor of Zelda using melee weapons, but that you pretend that people using their vote to express their desire for both characters having a unique playstyle is "willfully misinterpreting" the poll when you yourself aren't even able to accurately describe your own poll. And you use all that for the farfetched conclusion that people not wanting for Zelda to use melee weapons (which is again broader than what you actually asked) has to do with them not wanting Zelda to have real agency.
For the record, I'd love Zelda to fight with the amazing rapier she had in Twilight Princess (and I never particularly enjoyed her magic focused toolsets in the Warriors games), but you are nevertheless twisting people's words and intent to fit your point and that's just super fucking rude.
The opportunity to see the champions interacting with one another rather than almost exclusively with just Link and/or Zeldais probably its greatest strength. Even just seeing Daruk and Mipha share a few lines of conversation + a side mission goes such a long way
I think the story in AoC is presented better and more plot-focused, but I rather disagree that it's a better story.
There's something really poignant about the themes and character journeys presented in BoTW that actually has it as my favorite Zelda narrative ever, but the fact that its so lacking in structure + the barebones presentation of it doesn't do it justice. If they'd really committed to fully exploring each character and giving us time to get to know them - as well as allow Link to be fleshed out in actual cutscenes vs. journals + dialogue with NPCs, I think a lot of people would feel differently from how they do now.
While AoC's cutscenes were a HUGE step up in terms of cinematography and exciting plot beats, somehow the story itself felt more...shallow? Like there was less to dive in on. The only exception is how they centered Zelda's entire character, which I loved how human she felt and how they didn't fridge her in favor of having Link save the day.
There's something really poignant about the themes and character journeys presented in BoTW that actually has it as my favorite Zelda narrative ever, but the fact that its so lacking in structure + the barebones presentation of it doesn't do it justice. If they'd really committed to fully exploring each character and giving us time to get to know them - as well as allow Link to be fleshed out in actual cutscenes vs. journals + dialogue with NPCs, I think a lot of people would feel differently from how they do now.
While AoC's cutscenes were a HUGE step up in terms of cinematography and exciting plot beats, somehow the story itself felt more...shallow? Like there was less to dive in on. The only exception is how they centered Zelda's entire character, which I loved how human she felt and how they didn't fridge her in favor of having Link save the day.
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I'm just frustrated because I was excited to be able to play *the* prequel story to BotW but what I actually got was something completely different. I probably would have enjoyed the story just fine if I had my expectations set accordingly, but as it is I was frustrated all the way through because they removed all of the story bits I was excited to see in a more active fashion. I think the marketing could have been more honest about what AoC actually is, but oh well.
What? How'd you get that read? I think the way both games tell their stories is valuable and different, and that's probably why AoC feels like it has a better story (because it actually tells one.) BotW relies a lot on light exposition and the imagination of the players, so its story feels barely there, though its goals are in emergent story telling so it works fine.
it aint that serious
Lol this isn't why people have issues with the game and you know it. And I wouldn't exactly say having Zelda mope and become unplayable randomly during certain missions and bosses for 1/3 of the campaign so Link can show how stronk he is, not getting her own battle against Ganon, not even getting full credit bc Link and the Deux Ex Machina gotta get their blows in...is giving her more agency than what we learned about her in BotW.
I don't know, I got about halfway through and thought the story was being pretty poorly presented, couldn't get into it and wasn't finding the cutscenes worth playing a game I was getting increasingly bored by. I can see what they were doing with Zelda and it seemed solid enough but it wasn't exactly blowing my socks off.
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So, I'm playing the game at least half-way through by this point; I would say that it's still a standard Zelda affair in terms of story, but that's what I wanted anyways. I'm still enjoying it, though I imagine that the story is going to get darker from here on out. Guess we'll see on that note. Other than that, I think that the story is definitely better than BOTW in this sense, even if you kinda know what to expect.
BotW had a story?
I haven't played HW: AoC, but making up a better story than the barebones effort in BotW probably wouldn't be too hard.
I haven't played HW: AoC, but making up a better story than the barebones effort in BotW probably wouldn't be too hard.
I want to enjoy that game but controls / gameplay is unbearable. I had a tough time beating the Guardian on just the second level. Koei should volve their battle mechanics, incidentally I was playing Valhalla this period and though that AoC would abe much more fun if the combat was similar to Assassin's.