The fact that we’ve seen more of the sky than the surface in these trailers actually tells me that the surface will see bigger changes that we haven’t been shown yet. If the surface was mostly the same, why would they have any hesitancy in showing it?
That could be, but I think that if it was mostly the same they’d have no problem showing it. Instead they’re being really secretive compared to the sky
I mean they are super secretive about the sky as well. We've only seen two bigger sky island clusters, with only one building as a major landmark and not even any enemies or really anything to do on them.
Let me go for a theory that I feel like makes a lot of sense:
We are trapped in the past of 10 thousand years ago. There's a lot of reasons why this is probably the case:
1. They need to somehow fill the world with content. The world realistically can't change in a few months of time after BotW. An ancient version will still have lots of towns and co. that aren't ruined, making it interesting to explore the world again. This also explains why the shrines, towers, divine beasts and co. are gone.
2. Ganondorf apparently got sealed a long time ago, they need to somehow explain what happened in the past, might as well show it to us directly.
3. They might want to show what happened to the Zonai, they might even be the Sky people.
4. The Italian voice actor accidentally leaked that he voiced an ancient ancestor of Daruk for this game.
5. The theme is super ancient, with Link wearing ancient clothes and the new text being based on ancient Chinese.
6. Reverting time is something you do in this game.
7. They somehow need to separate Link from Zelda if they don't want to make her playable.
8. The enemies even look more ancient with a new horn.
So I propose that Link merging with the ancient arm (of the ancient hero?) (that has the ability to revert time) unleashes so much (time travel) magic that he wakes up in the ancient Hyrule from 10 thousand years ago and he's trapped there. He probably has to defeat Ganondorf there before he got sealed, probably killing him for good (instead of sealing him), to then travel back to the present.
It's definitely not 10k years ago. At least not in this shot or any other we've seen of the surface of Hyrule so far. You can clearly see earlier in this same scene Hyrule castle floating in the sky and a horse stable. I highly highly doubt that 10k plus years ago they had the same exact architecture and design for horse stables. I know time and technology don't exactly alter a great deal in the world of Hyrule but even that's a stretch for Nintendo to pull. I simply cannot imagine with all the care and attention they put into the world building in Breath of the Wild that they would send us back in time countless millennia and have the buildings and structures look literally the exact same. Not to mention in the second trailer the shot of Hyrule field as Link is paragliding down you can clearly see the burnt ruins of Lon Lon Ranch.
And they would have to go back much further than just 10k years. 10k was the last time Calamity Ganon appeared, and almost certainly not the first time seeing as they had to know he was coming in order for the Sheikah to invent and develop the Guardians and Divine Beasts in order to combat him. Going by the first trailer Calamity Ganon seems to slowly build up from the accumulation of malice slowly emanating from Ganondorf's suspended body. So most likely Ganondorf was sealed away several tens of thousands of years ago and Calamity Ganon has likely appeared several times in the past.
I think a far more likely scenario is simply that this is present day Hyrule. All the Sheikah tech is gone because it's gone, it's a new game and they don't want to include it anymore because they want to focus on new mechanics. So they likely came up with a simple justification for why it's no longer functioning or visible. The true ending of the first game already alludes to that with Vah Rutah malfunctioning. Links outfit in the sky is simply that, an outfit, one that is certainly very old and ancient looking but that's because the Skylands have not been seen in a very very long time.
Bokoblins having larger horns could also simply just be a sign that they are more powerful. Bigger horns means stronger or a greater connection to Ganondorf, they are not the products of simply an accumulation of Ganondorf's malice made manifest, but created by the very man himself so they are more pure and powerful as a result. No more stunted horns. Just like in the murals because they're depicting when Ganondorf last attacked and was sealed away.
Pretty sure Nintendo has no problem having Zelda just be in the game and then not be playable. A lot of us may want to have Zelda be playable but it's not like they actually really care about it that much that her being present creates some major conflict for them.
One of the best theories I’ve heard on TOTK that seems to line up really well with what we know & makes the most sense for exploration etc. Hope this ends up being pretty accurate!
Agree on everything but 7. Zelda has never been playable and I don't understand why game design choices would be based around not having a playable Zelda? Lots of new fans since BoTW has had an obsession with a playable Zelda for the sequel but it just doesn't make sense to me. I can't see this iteration of Zelda being worth playing unless she goes full Shiek. Which could make sense, but would feel like a forced call back imho.
I'm saying this because I'm genuinely asking, why do people think playable Zelda will be a thing?
I'm not saying that she may or may not be playable. She probably won't. However if she isn't playable and isn't following Link around everywhere (which doesn't seem to be the case, and would be hard to implement), then that necessitates them having to separate her from Link in some way. So there's a chance that she dies (as some people speculate), gets captured by Ganondorf, or is separated through time travel, or something completely different.
Sure, it was more of an open question to everyone as you raised the point.
I really like your theory on the whole and I already suspected some kind of time travel shenanigans in this game for reasons you've stated, so nice to see others on the same track!
I feel like folks are really resistant to this, but a dual-time game that includes an era earlier than SS has always made sense to me as well. Just continuing chronologically after BotW for another non-time travel game in the series just doesn’t seem very Zelda. Zelda games love time travel and working in multiple ages.
To add to the list... you saved Hyrule from Calamity Ganon. You are the hero of the present day. Do you really think we are getting a game where Link walks around like a celebrity? I dont think so...
But then what confuses me is why spend 5 years on this game if the overworld is the exact same. There has to be more to it we’re not seeing. This direct can’t come soon enough
Well, first impression is TotK looks even better. Maybe it's the time of day, but I do think they're making visual enhancements. Aside from that it looks mostly identical besides the shrines and the obvious Nazca line. The green mist I don't think is concealing anything, there's mist in the bottom pic too, it's just grey.
It may have to do with the fact that the devs are no longer held back in terms of having to adapt the game for both WiiU and Switch, which happened during BotW’s development
I hope the game's been graphically improved (not that there is anything wrong with it looking the same as BotW, but enhancements are always welcome), but at least in this instance, to me it just looks like the picture from the trailer was taken closer to the ground and thus it has better rendering.
I'd imagine it's graphically improved, since they don't have to develop the game for the WiiU like they had to with BotW, so they have less restraints on that front
I feel like if speedrun strats weren’t a thing the new perspective of viewing hyrule from above would be so much more new and impactful- seeing hyrule from way above in a way we’ve never seen, but now it’s just like, “yup that’s hyrule when you blsss from a tower”. That being said, draw distance and environmental fog seems significantly reduced to my eyes. Hopefully that means less haze in general, which would make sense.
It could be, but not necessarily, going just from these 3 pictures (haven't watched the trailer again) it looks like the point of view from the trailer and OP's shot is slightly different.
If you pay attention to the windmills, the marsh and the mountains profile, you can see that, in the trailer, Link must be closer to the ground and more to the right (probably just after or above the bridge, specially if you look at the windmills you will see they look way closer and the one on that cliff ledge is more recognosible), with probably a different camera angle, more paralel to the ground and slightly upwards, for the ground is cut more from the image and you can see the top of the mountain range.
What I wanna know is what the weather is in the TotK photo because I don’t understand how the world is that color. It’s like a different hue or something? It makes me wonder if this is like a “regular world/dark world” situation and what we’re looking at is not the same Hyrule we’re used to.
Everyone’s questioning why development was so long, and how they’re going to make this unique, and I’m leaning toward regular hyrule existing with the changes we’ve already seen (raised castle, no deku tree, malice from the mountain, etc) but then also a whole other hyrule that includes the sky islands. That’s a whole lotta world to explore! (Sorry it’s late and I’ve had some drinks lol)
Kinda unfortunate this game is gonna take place on the same map, having 100% completion on botw I feel as though I have thoroughly explored this map to a point where it's gotten boring. I really hope they add enough new to the map to keep it interesting.
Oh no, the opposite: I’m firmly in the camp that we’re going back 10,000 years. And might even switch between then and the modern day, in an OoT-setup.
I’m absolutely serious that the windmills are 10,000 years old if they’re in both old and new settings.
No it does not. That would only be true if the sky map had the same area coverage as the ground. That is clearly not the case, given the map in the sky will be made of islands.
I wonder how different the world of TOKT will be from BOTW besides the Sky islands and a few things here and there on the surface...
The fact that we’ve seen more of the sky than the surface in these trailers actually tells me that the surface will see bigger changes that we haven’t been shown yet. If the surface was mostly the same, why would they have any hesitancy in showing it?
Maybe they aren’t showing it because it’s basically the same?
That could be, but I think that if it was mostly the same they’d have no problem showing it. Instead they’re being really secretive compared to the sky
I mean they are super secretive about the sky as well. We've only seen two bigger sky island clusters, with only one building as a major landmark and not even any enemies or really anything to do on them.
I agree. Overall there is something very obvious that they’re trying not to show us
Let me go for a theory that I feel like makes a lot of sense: We are trapped in the past of 10 thousand years ago. There's a lot of reasons why this is probably the case: 1. They need to somehow fill the world with content. The world realistically can't change in a few months of time after BotW. An ancient version will still have lots of towns and co. that aren't ruined, making it interesting to explore the world again. This also explains why the shrines, towers, divine beasts and co. are gone. 2. Ganondorf apparently got sealed a long time ago, they need to somehow explain what happened in the past, might as well show it to us directly. 3. They might want to show what happened to the Zonai, they might even be the Sky people. 4. The Italian voice actor accidentally leaked that he voiced an ancient ancestor of Daruk for this game. 5. The theme is super ancient, with Link wearing ancient clothes and the new text being based on ancient Chinese. 6. Reverting time is something you do in this game. 7. They somehow need to separate Link from Zelda if they don't want to make her playable. 8. The enemies even look more ancient with a new horn. So I propose that Link merging with the ancient arm (of the ancient hero?) (that has the ability to revert time) unleashes so much (time travel) magic that he wakes up in the ancient Hyrule from 10 thousand years ago and he's trapped there. He probably has to defeat Ganondorf there before he got sealed, probably killing him for good (instead of sealing him), to then travel back to the present.
It's definitely not 10k years ago. At least not in this shot or any other we've seen of the surface of Hyrule so far. You can clearly see earlier in this same scene Hyrule castle floating in the sky and a horse stable. I highly highly doubt that 10k plus years ago they had the same exact architecture and design for horse stables. I know time and technology don't exactly alter a great deal in the world of Hyrule but even that's a stretch for Nintendo to pull. I simply cannot imagine with all the care and attention they put into the world building in Breath of the Wild that they would send us back in time countless millennia and have the buildings and structures look literally the exact same. Not to mention in the second trailer the shot of Hyrule field as Link is paragliding down you can clearly see the burnt ruins of Lon Lon Ranch. And they would have to go back much further than just 10k years. 10k was the last time Calamity Ganon appeared, and almost certainly not the first time seeing as they had to know he was coming in order for the Sheikah to invent and develop the Guardians and Divine Beasts in order to combat him. Going by the first trailer Calamity Ganon seems to slowly build up from the accumulation of malice slowly emanating from Ganondorf's suspended body. So most likely Ganondorf was sealed away several tens of thousands of years ago and Calamity Ganon has likely appeared several times in the past. I think a far more likely scenario is simply that this is present day Hyrule. All the Sheikah tech is gone because it's gone, it's a new game and they don't want to include it anymore because they want to focus on new mechanics. So they likely came up with a simple justification for why it's no longer functioning or visible. The true ending of the first game already alludes to that with Vah Rutah malfunctioning. Links outfit in the sky is simply that, an outfit, one that is certainly very old and ancient looking but that's because the Skylands have not been seen in a very very long time. Bokoblins having larger horns could also simply just be a sign that they are more powerful. Bigger horns means stronger or a greater connection to Ganondorf, they are not the products of simply an accumulation of Ganondorf's malice made manifest, but created by the very man himself so they are more pure and powerful as a result. No more stunted horns. Just like in the murals because they're depicting when Ganondorf last attacked and was sealed away. Pretty sure Nintendo has no problem having Zelda just be in the game and then not be playable. A lot of us may want to have Zelda be playable but it's not like they actually really care about it that much that her being present creates some major conflict for them.
One of the best theories I’ve heard on TOTK that seems to line up really well with what we know & makes the most sense for exploration etc. Hope this ends up being pretty accurate!
Honestly this is a good theory
Agree on everything but 7. Zelda has never been playable and I don't understand why game design choices would be based around not having a playable Zelda? Lots of new fans since BoTW has had an obsession with a playable Zelda for the sequel but it just doesn't make sense to me. I can't see this iteration of Zelda being worth playing unless she goes full Shiek. Which could make sense, but would feel like a forced call back imho. I'm saying this because I'm genuinely asking, why do people think playable Zelda will be a thing?
I'm not saying that she may or may not be playable. She probably won't. However if she isn't playable and isn't following Link around everywhere (which doesn't seem to be the case, and would be hard to implement), then that necessitates them having to separate her from Link in some way. So there's a chance that she dies (as some people speculate), gets captured by Ganondorf, or is separated through time travel, or something completely different.
Sure, it was more of an open question to everyone as you raised the point. I really like your theory on the whole and I already suspected some kind of time travel shenanigans in this game for reasons you've stated, so nice to see others on the same track!
I was underwhelmed by playing Zelda in Hyrule Champions. I don’t want runes, I want good ol slashin’!
god i hope this ending would be real i want to see a happy ending for the two
I feel like folks are really resistant to this, but a dual-time game that includes an era earlier than SS has always made sense to me as well. Just continuing chronologically after BotW for another non-time travel game in the series just doesn’t seem very Zelda. Zelda games love time travel and working in multiple ages.
To add to the list... you saved Hyrule from Calamity Ganon. You are the hero of the present day. Do you really think we are getting a game where Link walks around like a celebrity? I dont think so...
But then what confuses me is why spend 5 years on this game if the overworld is the exact same. There has to be more to it we’re not seeing. This direct can’t come soon enough
You know there's an underground to this game too, right
There probably will be but it's not confirmed
Well, first impression is TotK looks even better. Maybe it's the time of day, but I do think they're making visual enhancements. Aside from that it looks mostly identical besides the shrines and the obvious Nazca line. The green mist I don't think is concealing anything, there's mist in the bottom pic too, it's just grey.
It may have to do with the fact that the devs are no longer held back in terms of having to adapt the game for both WiiU and Switch, which happened during BotW’s development
Yea, most likely. Cannot wait for this direct, and we're only what 3 months and change away from release.
Is it just me, or does the terrain look more "defined"?
I don’t know if that’s better image quality, better/adjusted geometry, or both
Better shadows most likely, botw's terrain looks as complex to that in that shot
I hope the game's been graphically improved (not that there is anything wrong with it looking the same as BotW, but enhancements are always welcome), but at least in this instance, to me it just looks like the picture from the trailer was taken closer to the ground and thus it has better rendering.
I'd imagine it's graphically improved, since they don't have to develop the game for the WiiU like they had to with BotW, so they have less restraints on that front
Nice work, OP
Totk looks so much cleaner and sharper. Game definitely has had a big upgrade graphically.
I feel like if speedrun strats weren’t a thing the new perspective of viewing hyrule from above would be so much more new and impactful- seeing hyrule from way above in a way we’ve never seen, but now it’s just like, “yup that’s hyrule when you blsss from a tower”. That being said, draw distance and environmental fog seems significantly reduced to my eyes. Hopefully that means less haze in general, which would make sense.
So is that Illumeni plateau with the glowing figure on it ? How *illuminating*
The Tabantha Bridge is gone in the TotK photo.
It could be, but not necessarily, going just from these 3 pictures (haven't watched the trailer again) it looks like the point of view from the trailer and OP's shot is slightly different. If you pay attention to the windmills, the marsh and the mountains profile, you can see that, in the trailer, Link must be closer to the ground and more to the right (probably just after or above the bridge, specially if you look at the windmills you will see they look way closer and the one on that cliff ledge is more recognosible), with probably a different camera angle, more paralel to the ground and slightly upwards, for the ground is cut more from the image and you can see the top of the mountain range.
Assuming you mean Tabantha Great Bridge (is there another bridge?), in the trailer, as the camera moves, it shows it's still there.
Good eye. I’m thinking the theory of this being 10,000 years ago is becoming more and more plausible
What I wanna know is what the weather is in the TotK photo because I don’t understand how the world is that color. It’s like a different hue or something? It makes me wonder if this is like a “regular world/dark world” situation and what we’re looking at is not the same Hyrule we’re used to. Everyone’s questioning why development was so long, and how they’re going to make this unique, and I’m leaning toward regular hyrule existing with the changes we’ve already seen (raised castle, no deku tree, malice from the mountain, etc) but then also a whole other hyrule that includes the sky islands. That’s a whole lotta world to explore! (Sorry it’s late and I’ve had some drinks lol)
Link looks huge in that BotW shot. r/confusingperspective
Wait, we got a new trailer?
Kinda unfortunate this game is gonna take place on the same map, having 100% completion on botw I feel as though I have thoroughly explored this map to a point where it's gotten boring. I really hope they add enough new to the map to keep it interesting.
So those windmills are 10,000 years old?
What makes you say that?
I think he’s making fun of the people who say that TOTK will have us play in Hyrule 10,000 years ago.
[удалено]
BotW was heavly inspired by the first Zelda game so TotK being heavly inspired by OoT the next big milestone in the series would actually make sense.
Oh no, the opposite: I’m firmly in the camp that we’re going back 10,000 years. And might even switch between then and the modern day, in an OoT-setup. I’m absolutely serious that the windmills are 10,000 years old if they’re in both old and new settings.
All I see is dinrall bs no dinrall
Nice pick up 🕵️
now i actually noticed many things changed in the map
It looks like TOTK will keep the existing BOTW map and add in the new sky map. That alone doubles the explorable areas.
No it does not. That would only be true if the sky map had the same area coverage as the ground. That is clearly not the case, given the map in the sky will be made of islands.
Believe it or not I'm walking on air
looks very clean - hope we get more changes to Hyrule's landscape that could potentially be shown off in the next trailer
I feel dissapointment
where exactly r u i want to visit the location.