Beneath Our Loved Excursions
Shortly after watching the third trailer for The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom I alongside most of the industry found myself gallivanting nostalgic throughout our collective memories of Nintendo’s 2017 hit title. In the six years since it’s debut no game has topped it in my eyes, be it from Nintendo or otherwise. Many have tried, but they slip through the cracks of my general interest. I’m picky, and I’m not sorry.
I’m also not sorry to admit that I have spent every year in some way or another…attached to this game. I played it on my Wii U in 2017. I played it on my brand new Switch in 2018, and that’s where this all becomes a bit of a blur. My life has changed dramatically in these last six years, but one thing remains. Just a few minutes ago I loaded up BOTW on my now scratched, dusty, slow charging handheld, and still managed to find a korok. I started a new save around 2020, but even my original switch save still had dozens of things to discover. This sentiment brings me back to 2014’s initial trailer during Nintendo’s E3 direct- the first direct that I would watch live.
“Maybe Link will have an experience gauge”
“It’s like Skyrim, but Zelda”
“I can’t wait to play this next year”
All these thoughts cascading throughout twitter, and nearly everything was proven wrong. We didn’t play the game until 2017. It’s not like Skyrim, or anything else really, and most of all the experience in BOTW is in fact…
…The experience.
I don’t get cold, calculated points if I find a cool hill in the game. I get a view. If I save a couple from a swarm of enemies I don’t get a trumpet sound and a new weapon upgrade, I might get a bowl of soup and a story about how they met.
That isn’t to say that BOTW is an “anti-game”. There’s still health, stamina, Ubisoft-like towers to climb to fill out the map, and weapon durability- much to the delight or dismay of players the world over. There’s even soul orbs, which can easily just be skill points. Spend four for a health or stamina boost! Nintendo could’ve easily sold us bundles of 4 for $3 and I know of at least 5 people who would’ve bought them. Personally my ideal method for playing the game these days is to simply not engage with the soul orbs at all. You would get them for clearing the shrines in the game- simple puzzle rooms with treasure and enemies scattered about- and for every shrine you activate you got a little node on your map that you can fast travel to at any time. I activate the shrines for the node, and then I just walk away. I like my three hearts just fine.
BREATH OF THE WILD IS FOR EVERYONE
In 2010 I made a friend in my other friend’s cousin. She and I had somewhat similar interests, but aside for our love for Joel Mchale’s tenure on “The Soup” we fell short on nearly everything else. She loved Miley Cyrus. I loved My Chemical Romance. We’re great friends. We went to prom together, we wrote each other letters during the summer, and things were great. By the time I graduated in 2011 we were still very much friends, but not as close as before. In the summer of 2013 our friendship finally rekindled and we were closer than ever. 2013 did it’s big thing by turning into 2014 and i’m showing her Final Fantasy XIII on my PS3. I explain that the game is also available for her Xbox 360, and the rest is simply for another time.
In 2017 hot off the heels of her nearly finished Lost Odyssey playthrough I suggest that she gets into Zelda, seeing that she got herself a Nintendo Switch that holiday. Cut to about two years later and i’m receiving messages that simply read
“I KILLED A LYNEL”
and finally….this
She cleared every shrine, and with inverted camera controls to boot. Left handed people scare the hell out of me.
While i’m still talking about how BOTW is for everyone, let me entertain you with a quick anecdote involving a woman, a joycon, and a gamestop employee.
Five years ago my friend and I were looking at switch games at our local Gamestop. An older lady walks in holding her console as if it was a sickly goat. She goes up to the employee at the counter.
“You’ve gotta help me. My controller is messed up. He keeps walking off the bridge here. He keeps making this ‘AHHHH’ sound as he screams.”
My friend and I silently acknowledge to each other that it’s simply a case of joycon drift. Gamestop employee explains the reasoning behind the suicidal link on the bridge.
“You got joycon drift. Here.”
He then proceeds to slide the left joycon off her console, and in an authoritative *click* he then slides in a replacement from behind the counter.
He didn’t even charge her. She fiddles around with the stick, smiles, thanks the clerk and goes on her way. I’ll never forget just how cool that employee was. Nintendo doesn’t care that their controllers have what is essentially a performance-based killswitch, and this dude didn’t care to take her money to make her buy a new one. Fair is fair.
LEGACY AS A MEANS TO AN END
In 2019 the world learned that a sequel to BOTW was in development. It was a no brainer on Nintendo’s part. You have this wonderfully designed engine already established, assets to build off of, and a team that already knows what the people want. Next year at the latest right?
By just the third month in in the following year I think everyone understood that anything- be it a movie or an album or a game would be considered a miracle if it came out at all, let alone in 2020. I was happy with my animal crossing island, my several hours of Final Fantasy VII Remake, and my various attempts of “Getting” Xenoblade. We got a nice little trailer in 2021 stating that the game would launch in the following year, but I at least knew that this just wasn’t in the cards. Sure enough it gets delayed and the crowd goes mild. 2022 rears it’s head and we get nothing for 9 months. Finally birthed from a Nintendo Direct we get yet another trailer for the now titled Tears Of The Kingdom. Alongside this trailer we get a bold statement: a release date. May 12th, 2023. We get another trailer in February 2023 still touting that May date, and finally one last trailer just a few days ago as of writing that once again, states that the game is just a month away.
So how do we value a game where four years of it’s lifespan was just us waiting for a new game? You get speedruns, trickshots, streamers playing for the first time. You get essays, video essays, cosplay, fan fiction- both erotic and family friendly. You get cooking videos, soundtrack covers, debates on which character in the game is the hottest. You get texts from your friend at 1 in the morning that just say
“I KILLED A LYNEL”
but most of all you get that special feeling where you can talk to a customer at your job about your favorite moment in the game simply because they recognize what’s on your arm.
ON SHAME: GAMER’S LAMENT
In 2014 I got a triforce tattoo.
It’s simple. Just the design and nothing else. I was completely sober when I got it, despite what I might say now. I got it because I love Zelda, but most of all I got it because it was $40.
Since then i’ve had to explain nearly every week to someone that it’s not a harry potter, satanist, or nazi thing. I either lie and say it’s just a design or I admit to my 80 year old customer that I love videogames. That’s the shame talking. I was ashamed to admit that I just really loved Ocarina of Time as a child. These days more and more I see people just tell me flat out that I have a triforce tattoo, and instead of a whimper of a “….yeah” it’s becoming more of a proud “Yeah!”.
I’m coming to terms with my love for gaming- be it by writing silly essays about them, wearing shirts with them on the front or getting them tattooed to my arm. I love videogames. I love Breath Of The Wild. I love Zelda.
-PA
If you like what you’ve read feel free to buy me a coffee or check out my patreon. If you’re from discord or insert credit follow me on Twitter if you want to keep in touch with what I’m doing in between essays.
