Why is the storytelling so bad in Tears of the Kingdom?

My biggest problem with the story BY FAR was the exact same cutscene after defeating the temples. I was honestly SHOCKED when i got through my third one and realized what was happening. Like HOW does that happen. At least change like 1 thing at LEAST. And i love this game

Lore: 'Draconofication cannot be reversed! You will lose everything about yourself if you go through with it!' Ending: 'lul lets reverse this draconofication'

I could actually defend BOTW storytelling... I really liked it as a concept. With TOTK I get more frustrated the more I think about it.

Some of the issues are so weird, too. Like--it made sense in Botw how you could stumble across the memories in random order, first because Link's memories don't inform the game play, they just deepen the emotion, and second because the memories by design were tied to specific areas. Whereas the devs COULD have let you progress through the reveal of Zelda's more consequential story by unlocking her cutscenes in chronological order no matter which glyph you visited first--but they just didn't? Why not?

Imagine each sage playing a different role in Ganondorf's life. I could see the Gerudo feeling betrayed by this king they raised, possibly even guilty for feeding his ego. The Rito could have played a role as creating a holy knife of some sort that Ganondorf uses to kill Sonia with. The Zora may be the ones to tell Rauru how he can stop Ganondorf for millenia. Maybe the Gorons vanquished the demons and are horrified by Ganondorf becoming a Demon King himself. Then that fight scene plays out differently to each of them, with linearity not being important whatsoever.

Nintendo really needs to hire creative story writers

for the dragon tears, they could have played in in order despite different locations - for example, if you go to location 5 it will still play in order by which cutsences you got so far if that makes sense!

Sonia and Rauru were so boring to me, and that sucks because part of the reason BotW’s memories were so enjoyable were because of the champions. They all had their unique interactions with Link, as you said, but they also had their own unique takes on the Calamity which were shaped by their lives and beliefs. Sonia and Rauru though? Neither of them offered a unique perspective or showed any insight into their character or what they believed. Both characters can be summed up as “Help Zelda. Serve kingdom.” And Zelda shares this sentiment too, leading to very few intriguing conversations between the three. It isn’t until Ganondorf kills Sonia that we see a spark of deviation from Rauru. Considering the prevalent theme of Sacrifice in the cutscenes of the past, I feel that they should have set up Rauru’s character to be more relevant to that theme. Rauru is called “arrogant” by Ganondorf as a way to taunt him, but we never see any real arrogance displayed by him, giving the insult little weight. The only thing Rauru does wrong is make a miscalculation on Ganondorf. I feel that Rauru’s arrogance should’ve been more prevalent in the cutscenes as Hyrule’s king and contrast that with Zelda who is also Hyrule’s ruler in her time. If I am correct, there is a stone pillar with ancient text in TotK that states how Rauru would “waive his duties as king in favor of hunting” and that Queen Sonia would need to reel him in. Why not bring this to the forefront and have Zelda react to this? You could have Zelda see a version of her younger self in Rauru as one who tries to avoid their royal duty in favor or their personal interests. Zelda though would have the understanding and experience not to berate Rauru like her father did. In response, Rauru could ignore or rebuke Zelda, pointing out the peace that has resulted from his rule, displaying his arrogance. In addition, Rauru could also use Zelda’s young age as a sign of her inexperience, so what good would her counsel be? And, if you wanted to, you could add in that he is a Zonai, and that a higher being would just know better. This scene could be followed up by the Recall training session between Zelda and Sonia. Zelda can bring her concerns of Rauru to Sonia, the queen, who then can provide insight into Rauru’s positives and why she married him and how she assists Rauru in his affairs with her wisdom and humility. If possible, it would also be beneficial to show how much Sonia means to Rauru in this scene or the previous one. The assertion of Rauru’s arrogance sets up his failure as the kingdom falls apart right under him as Ganondorf seizes power and kills his queen. Realizing what must be done, the story can play out mostly as it did for the rest with a little more self reflection on Rauru’s part. Rauru sacrifices his life for his kingdom to restore the peace that he carelessly neglected. This then would be followed up by Zelda doing her part by sacrificing herself for her own kingdom as well as her knight. If I needed to replace some memories, I would get rid of the Gerudo Assault and place the hunting scene there and rework the Zelda and Sonia memory to talk more of Rauru’s rule and provide insight into Sonia’s character and beliefs. As for your video, I appreciate you along with a few other people being willing to express your disappointment for something in a widely acclaimed game. I too loved the game, but considering the cinematic trailer given to us with Mummy Ganondorf, I had higher expectations for the story.

i'm so glad that you mentioned how a lot of what was important in botw (the sheikah, divine beasts, etc.) was tossed aside in totk! it's one of my biggest problems with the game (other than that a lot of the story was pretty lackluster). it's like "hey, we know these elements were crucial in the last game, but we're going to erase them and focus on a race that was barely in botw, and also give it barely any screentime! oh, and no one remembers the events of botw as well!" totk's gameplay is better, but botw was better in terms of story imo

“He was our chief before he changed. His obsession with power turned him into a monster” The amount this line could have implied is INSANE! It calls into question what Ganondorf’s relationship with the Gerudo was and I was so interested! We’re they on board with everything or did they stop following him at a point? Does this sage view him in a more sympathetic way or the opposite being a member of her tribe? And then they didn’t tell me :( I wish I got more unique information in these cutscenes

For Zelda turning into a dragon, I would hate for her to stay a dragon but I also suggested somewhere else to include four endings dictated by whether or not you speedrun the game or actually take the time to do the story quest: 1. The 1st ending, we have the worst where Zelda remains a dragon, and the 'Find Princess Zelda' Quest remains uncompleted. This ending is achieved by essentially speedrunning without taking any time to actually complete the main story or gather any sages. 2. The 2nd ending, is the second worst where we complete the Dragon Tears Quest and gather the Sages but don't speak to Impa at Lookout Landing or complete Sonia and Rauru's Temples (More on that in a bit). In this ending, Link manages to partially heal Zelda through sheer force of will and recall, but since he's by himself, Zelda is reduced to a half-dragon, half-Hylian amnesiac with no memory of her friends, family, or Link. 3. The 3rd ending is actually two technically, but they are only unlocked after Dragon's Tears Quest is completed and all the sages are gathered. In this ending, talk to Impa and she will tell you her findings about a Temple of Light in the Depths and a Temple of Time in the Skies. With the former, we traverse the Depths until we come across an Ancient Zonai Temple that we have to light up to proceed; we eventually come across Rauru's spirit again, where he apologizes to Link, saying he had no idea that Zelda would actually go through with the Draconification but promises to assist him if he can though he's not sure if they'll be able to reverse it. On the other side, we have the Temple of Time where we must use both Temple of Times (the one on the ground and the one in the Sky ala Spirit Temple) to proceed using Recall. In the end, we meet the spirit of Queen Sonia who expresses delight at finally being able to meet Link and she gives her impression on all of this before saying that if anyone can save Zelda, it's Link. However, if you only do one of these temples, then you'll be stuck with one of two endings. The first is half-draconified Zelda, where you only do the Temple of Light and the second is amnesiac but fully Hylian Zelda if you do the Temple of Time. 4. If you do all the Temples and Dragon's Tears, you get the best and fourth ending which is just the one you see in the game.

Demon King? Secret Stones?

I found out Zelda was the Light Dragon way too soon than I should and it ruined the storytelling because i thought Zelda was gonna die in the past. I knew that she was gonna change back once i found out she was a dragon. Kind of ruined the game for me

I can't believe I still enjoyed BoTW more than ToTK. For all the talk of a darker Zelda story or whatever, this ended up being the most lackadaisical and lighthearted story out of the core 3D Zelda games thus far. Even BoTW had much more melancholic and well written story elements that feel much more evocative of what Zelda is really about, and while I understand some criticism towards the nonlinear story I found it way more engaging than what we got here.

I think Majora's Mask has the most compelling 'narrative' because it is not just one story from start to finish. It is a conglomeration of various tales of grief from all the residents of Termina that makes the world (and game) that much more compelling. You care for these people because you get to know them so well over a short span of three days. Modern Zelda (and a lot of open world games in general) miss this piece of the puzzle. I'd love to see it a bit more. To be honest, I would have much rather played through Zelda's journey rather than (or alongside) Link's. Great video, absolutely hit on a lot of what I was feeling when the game started to feel a bit more like a chore towards the end of my playthrough.

Honestly there was one thing that struck me and gave me chills. After confronting puppet Zelda, "she" is removed from the blood moon cutscene going forward. The silence of that first cutscene hits so hard. You realize that the continuity we got from the first game was merely a facade. A bizarre combination of meta and lore that somehow felt comforting and was unceremoniously taken away. Not realizing the consequence of the story progression on this cutscene only serves to add to the hauting atmosphere.

-The way Ganondorf got Sonia's stone was lame -Rauru keeping Ganondorf close in Memory 6 had the potential to showcase Rauru as smart, but that whole plot point isn't even explored and Ganondorf gets away with the easiest heist in recent memory lol -Fake Zelda plot point could've been more interesting, her being Phantom Ganon was so guessable -Why does Zelda still have her stone when she reverts from being the Light Dragon? I still appreciate the attempt for a more concentrated story here though, I still enjoyed it for what it is, finale was just awesome

A problem he didn't mention, is how you can do major story elements out of order, which messes up the events of the memory narrative. You can even get the master sword early by accident! It baffles me how Nintendo had years to work on the game, but they didnt once think, "Maybe we should lock certain events in a specific way, so that players are not spoiled".

Mineru's cutscene does show the actual sealing event depicting Rauru binding Ganondorf....which is kinda important. It shows how stupid Rauru was to even mention Link's name. On the other hand, Raisindorf's disappointment at Link being an alleged weakling when he woke up made him so upset he spends the game sulking while you have plenty of time to screw around Hyrule doing whatever you want. XD

Once you tell Impa that Zelda is the dragon (after getting all the memories), she feels the tragedy, but she refuses to give up and hopes to find a way to reverse it. This was the most compelling moment in the story for me. I thought, for sure, that there would be more to it. I thought that once she returned to Kakariko, there'd be a whole additional quest line helping her research possibilities for bringing back Zelda, and that completing this would unlock a secret ending (the post credits cutscene) in which Zelda is brought back. Imagine my disappointment when there was no additional quest, when Zelda is reversed in the main ending REGARDLESS of what you've learned, and that the final secret cutscene is just more 5 sages filler-blather. Nintendo's choices with this story are honestly baffling.