Notes on "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom"#
2025-01-08#
After 2 years of The Legend of Zelda ("Breath of the Wild" and now "Tears of the Kingdom") in Spanish, I have my Switch in English, and I have to say that while it's a very good approach to train my Spanish, it was a bit of a chore. Now, the immersion deepened greatly. I also have an impression that both translations create their own worlds and are not direct translations from Japanese. Interesting. It also feels that Spanish translation is a bit better.
2025-01-10#
For example, those two mountains (or rather a mountain broke in two) in Necluda are called Duelling Peaks in English but Picos Gemelos* in Spanish. This gives a different vibe to the world, to the ways that its denizens are naming things. It's more violent.
*Literally, Twin Peaks which is close to Japanese Twin Mountains. Maybe they didn't want to infringe some intellectual property.
2025-01-20#
I found Majora's Mask.
2025-01-26#
I accidentally did a quest from the main group when I was exploring the floating islands in the clouds. I assumed there'd be only 4 sages (because there were 4 divine beasts in "Breath of the Wild"), but no. My wife reminded me that I actually remarked at some point that there are only 4 rings but 5 fingers, and that there might be something else still. So now I have a mecha suit. Sweet.
But Zelda's voice in English is horrible. This booming voice with a British accent just lands really badly after the Spanish princessy voice.
2025-02-05#
Typically to me, I went to explore (which is fantastic in "Tears of the Kingdom"), and I found the location of the final boss. Or so I think. I retreated to make a couple of side quests.
What I like in both "Breath of the Wild" and "Tears of the Kingdom" is that clothes are not merely armour but also have functional utility: they make you warm, they make you cold, they allow you to walk over gloom, or fly better. Speaking of which, at 4 missing hearts, I finally found the blue tunic. And I wouldn't hadn't I read Zelda's diary.
2025-02-10#
Thanks to exploring first, I get to places that quests should lead me later. Oftentimes, I end up with a quest solved immediately. Yesterday I cleared up the sky above the tropical part of Hyrule... after exploring the whole archipelago using the map and various skills which highlight the shapes around. I was still up for a surprise (the shape).
2025-08-10#
After a year and a half or 185 hours, I finally finished "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom." I played it on and off as to not overplay it. In the end I couldn't handle any more side quests and I went for the main one. At first I failed, so I took another detour which turned out pointless but gave me some practice before the second attempt. The final fight was very satisfying, but it was crucial that I came prepared the second time.
In "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," I went to see how the boss looks like and I ended up killing him. It felt cool because I had the maxed-out armour and all but it also felt underwhelming. This time it was better. But then again, I went a bit underprepared this time. Low armour, just a couple of weapons.
[...] to summarise, I will write that the expansion of the world when comparing to the first game was really impressive. Looking back it seems crazy that there were no caves in "Breath of the Wild." They more than doubled the world size. I hope they will do some sort of follow up in this style. It would be a waste if they didn't.