Zelda fans, it's time to decide: Sheikah Slate or Rauru's arm?

[Watershed]

As the thread title says:

Which is better, the Sheikah Slate in BOTW or Rauru's arm in TOTK?

In terms of abilities, Rauru's arm wins hand down. The Sheikah abilities are cool, but the TOTK abilities are amazing. It seems like all of them would break the game but they don't. Instead, they just work. Every time you ask yourself, I wonder if...the answer is yes.

In terms of functionality, I think it is weird how TOTK spreads abilities and functionality across Rauru's arm and the Purah Pad. It's just less elegant. In contrast, I like how the Sheikah Slate does it all.

In terms of aesthetic, I find another person's arm grafted to Link's body to be much more interesting than a tablet and Link thrusting out his arm to use abilities is cooler than thrusting forward a tablet.

I vote Rauru's arm. What say you? And why?

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Another person's arm being grafted onto the main character is a cool aesthetic. It reminds me of some anime visual novel thing I read many years ago. ;)

 

[Spoit]

Brother, I live on... through this arm!

 

[Kneefoil]

I'm a simple man: I like infinite bombs and explosions.

 

[Deleted member 3924]

Half of the slate abilities are kind of redundant now. The only way it wins out is having UI control over the divine beast parts, where TOTK's dungeons kind of didn't have anything like that. Cryonis is the most worthless thing.

 

[Spinluck]

It's the arm, it's not even close.

 

[Phendrift]

In terms of abilities, TotK's are so far ahead. Combining them with the Zonai devices and you have Link with a toolset that dwarfs any previous game in the series by miles.

Rauru's arm is much cooler looking as well. I do like the slate though, and agree that TOTK spreading its functionality made it feel less "clean" at times. I kinda wish they stuck to the Zonai aesthetic for all of the UI/abilities beyond just the arm abilities. Would've gone a long way even if it was functionally the same.

 

[Mekanos]

Ascend alone completely changed your relationship with the map unlike any other video game I've played. Add in all the other abilities and it's not even close.

 

[KraytarJ]

TotK abilities are so far above BotW abilities in basically every way. Ultra hand is a far better magnesis, rewind is more interesting than stasis, fuse allows for so much more than the unlimited bombs, and I don't think I need to compare ascend and cryonis. It's a clean sweep in every way for TotK. Plus the arm is cooler too.

 

[Okabe]

What say you?

Click to shrink...

Majora's Mask mask's powers.

 

[Brodo Baggins]

The only BotW ability I really miss is Stasis. Everything else is pretty much straight up improved with TotK powers/item mechanics.

Also Rauru's hand asethetic is way cooler than the Sheikah slate looking like a Wii U gamepad constantly reminding you Nintendo held the game back until the Switch launched, and how the menu would have made more sense with dual screens.

 

[Scheris]

The arm, although I do miss Stasis from BotW when playing TotK.

 

[Mediking]

Shekiah Slate for me

 

[NaikoGames]

is the arm and is kinda not close imo.

ascend: should be on every game with caves lol
recall: one of the must fun abilities in any zelda game
fuse: it was makes the game, now everything you grind is usable
ultrahand: is magnesis but now you can build and glue shit

cryonis: in totk this one is kinda in-game if you have any type of ice-weapon
stasis: the only ability thats kinda missing but being able to make vehicles makes it also a bit outdated to use
the bombs: they're just cooler on TOTK since you can put fuse them in your arrow
magnesis: legit fun but once again, ultrahand just elevates it

 

[Watershed]

I wish the TOTK abilities had upgrades. Imagine if a Recall upgrade allowed you to use Recall on enemies like how upgraded stasis could freeze enemies.

 

[Dull Request]

Half the Sheikah slate is replaced by in-game items/Fuse.

 

[Alent]

I do like the runes in botw better but acend is the goat ability so I guess I'd have to go with Rauru's arm.

 

[Greywaren]

As much as I liked the slate, the arm is such a cool idea.

 

[TheBiInBilingual]

Ultra hand is a far better magnesis

Click to shrink...

In the sense that it can lift more than just metal objects: yes

But recently I played/messed around in Botw again and Magnesis has a much larger lift than Ultrahand. While playing through totk using UH I'd always think like 'couldn't I place things higher in the last game?'

Turns out my suspicions were correct. Not really a dealbreaker, sometimes I just wished UH had better/the same height.

I do agree the arm is way cooler though.

In my same ventures in botw I had to get a floating wooden chest out of the water and I was like shit I can't pick this up. Completely forgetting Cryonis was a thing.

 

[julia crawford]

slate for me, i prefer those abilities

also it's an in game switch

 

[Diogo Arez]

BOTW's abilities felt like a nothing burger, they are simple af
TOTK on the other hand has some of the best and most fun abilities in gaming, elevated even more by the fact you can combine them in quick succession to do amazing stuff

 

[Fosko]

I'm a simple man: I like infinite bombs and explosions.

Click to shrink...

I find the flower bomb explosions in totk more satisfying that remote bombs in botw tho

 

[Poltergust]

Rauru's arm is better between BotW and TotK.

BUT

The Sheikah Slate as used in Age of Calamity is the best of all of them. Every character having unique uses for each of the abilities was so cool.

 

[Glio]

Rauru arm makes Sheikah slate seem absurdly limited by comparison. Like, a skill was *a block of ice*. It's like comparing a bicycle to a spaceship.

 

[Last_colossi]

Rauru's arm > Sheikah Slate

But

Revali's Gale >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tulin's Power of Wind

 

[massoluk]

Come on now. You barely use Sheikah's Slate in battle. Ability like ice block is situational at best. The bomb thing was easily replaced in TOTK.

 

[laxu]

I did like the Slate being an ingame Switch. I wish TotK used that premise more.

I also wish TotK had better tools other than the rocket to launch stuff fast. You have to build a catapult otherwise.

 

[xpownz]

slate for me, i prefer those abilities

also it's an in game switch

Click to shrink...

The slate is an in game WiiU second screen

The Purah Pad is an in game Switch

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

as much as i love rauru's arm abilities and the possibilities with it are far bigger, i prefere the slate because the puzzles they made with them in mind were more challenging and interesting to me... i never was stuck a single time with rauru's arm and i did all the shrines... yes it helps that you're free to resolve the puzzle any way you like, but it made everything trivial and i'm sure they could have done more thought out puzzle with them in mind if they wanted to

 

[julia crawford]

Rauru arm makes Sheikah slate seem absurdly limited by comparison. Like, a skill was *a block of ice*. It's like comparing a bicycle to a spaceship.

Click to shrink...

well riding a bicycle can be more fun than a spaceship, even if it's more limited, or rather because it is more limited

 

[Cudpug]

Ascend alone is one of the most impressive things I've seen in a video game for years. Feel like it shouldn't work but it does, flawlessly, every single time.

 

[ReBirFh]

I trade both for the Hookshot

 

[StraySheep]

Not even a question, arm.

 

[Vaern]

Do you prefer to Stop Time or Rewind Time? Or in JoJo terms, do you prefer The World

or Mandom?

 

[Parthenios]

The arm powers are cooler on paper but there's an odd feeling that you're not really playing the game when using them. Like, Link carrying a fan with his hands has a better tactile gamefeel than zapping a fan with Ultrahand and flinging it around.

 

[Belphegor]

You mean Purah's Pad? Sheikah Slate is better than Purah's Pad

 

[Platy]

A powerfull technology you don't understand from ages past is way more interesting than an arm from someone who was powerfull because of a gem that is not in the arm anymore..

Like the more you think about, the less sense it makes for the arm to give link powers

So in everything but the powers specifically, the slate wins hands down

Now in the 3rd game of the trilogy they need to give us BOTH

 

[Roubjon]

I don't like the arm grafting trope, so the slate wins for me.

 

[andymcc]

i like the Mononoke vibes of the arm.

 

[AlgusUnderdunk]

Rauru's arm, because it comes with a sexy force ghost goat.

 

[logash]

Rauru's arm and it's not even close.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

The arm is the most interesting thing Nintendo's ever done with Link's character design for sure.

 

[cuplinks]

Please don't use the name for the arm in the thread title. Massive spoiler for a game that is only a few months old.

 

[NightShift]

The only ability I miss from BotW is stasis and I prefer it over rewind. Other than that, Rauru's hand is just a straight up upgrade that can do everything the other abilities in BotW could do on top of adding so much and fixing the issues with the weapons IMO. Plus it looks cool.

Also initially I was very sceptical of ascend but with the addition of caves and the underground, it's brilliant.

 

[Zip]

The arm's abilities were a direct refinement of BotW's slate abilities, and made possible by the benefits of experience, hindsight, and building upon the foundations BotW laid. In a straight comparison of utility/abilities, the arm wins no contest.

Aesthetically I found the arm cooler than the tablet the slate effectively was, but the guardians were cooler than the zonai tech if we bundle each with their associated tool.

I'm very curious what they will do for the next game as they won't be able to just have link lose an arm every time to add the game's special abilities. The tablet may return!

 

[milkyway]

The Sheikah Slate is cool and is a unique supplement to your journey. It and the arm are used to about equal effect in the shrines I think. But the arm's abilities are just so lovingly woven into the very fabric of TotK - wins pretty soundly for me.

I guess aesthetically the ancient arm is neat and seems more natural to use than whipping out a tablet.

 

[Clefargle]

The sequel to these games better have abilities from both. I missed cryonis and stasis in this game, puzzles with both sets of them would be incredible

 

[Mandelbrot]

Why not both? And all the champion and sage abilities too!

 

[Begaria]

It's the arm, but I'm not entirely sure why Link doesn't have access to both the slate and arm powers. There's literally no explanation anywhere that I can recall that states why Link doesn't have his Slate anymore, and was replaced by a much lesser version of it.

 

[Sagroth]

Rauru's Arm is better than Sheikah Slate by a good margin.

However…

Champion Abilities are vastly better than the Sage Abilities.