It was time for the last temple, which finally brought me to the Rito. This may strike you as odd, since the game directs you there early on, as your first major target after your first visit to Hyrule Castle. But Zelda games like Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword had created my inner aversion against being told what to do and where to go. So, the first objective(s) in Tears of the Kingdom literally became the last thing that I wanted to do.
And to be fair, the game really let's you do whatever you want. I think this is a great compromise, where there is general guidance for the players who would be lost without it, but the freedom to completely ignore this guidance and just have your own adventure. The only drawback is that the story telling may not work for all cases, as we're going to find out in this post...
Right Things, Wrong Reasons
Back to Rito Village, you will quickly find Teba and his family. In a similar vein to the Gorons and Zora, there is a generational shift here, where Kaneli has retired and Teba became the new elder of Rito Village. And unlike King Dorephan, Kaneli has actually moved on, leaving the snowy village to the young.
Teba seems to be somewhat overwhelmed by all this and has clearly failed as a parent, together with his wife, Saki, because Tulin is growing up to become the next Revali and has an ego problem. He has also seen Zelda and this leads me to the even bigger problem: you're still there to investigate Zelda's disappearance and even state this as the reason why you came to Rito Village.
This makes no sense at this point in the game any longer, because I've already completed the Tears of the Dragon quest and I know what happened to Zelda and where she is. She's flying right above us as we speak! This even goes all the way back to Purah, who has sent you on this mission. While you can report your discovery to Impa, you don't bring Purah up to speed...
The story telling breaks with all this non-linearity, but an easy solution would have been to make the four regional phenomena about the regional phenomena and nothing else. Not everything needed to be about Zelda's disappearance, even when the main main quest is "Find Zelda!". In the end it's perfectly reasonable that Link primarily came to Rito Village (and all the other regions) to help them. It seems somewhat selfish to make it all about Zelda's whereabouts, especially when all the tribes of Hyrule are busy with their own problems, like the Rito covered in snow.
Even Snowier Hebra Mountains
Having Rito Village in this state isn't a new idea, of course, because this was already done by Age of Calamity. But there you couldn't enter Rito Village itself or freely explore the areas around it, so it's still a fresh experience somehow. Having a snowstorm at the Hebra Mountains is anything but fresh, however, here the opposite would have been interesting for a change.
You're off to follow the overconfident Tulin, which brings you onto the Hebra Mountain Climbing Path. In my latest Breath of the Wild playthrough I took this path to first venture into the Hebra Mountains, so I really liked how this path was given more importance, where you will find several Rito on the way, but also the Rospro Pass Skyview Tower.
Again, there isn't much to do there to activate it. Just burn some thorns and you're ready to go up. This was my last Skyview Tower, where I finally have the entire map unlocked and also could get the third Travel Medallion from Robbie, who I hadn't visited in months...
I probably would visit him more often if I hadn't decided to take every picture in Hyrule Compendium myself. It's a lot more fun to just buy them, at least it was in Breath of the Wild, but there is so much usage for Rupees in Tears of the Kingdom already that I don't necessarily regret this path.
Military Medals
In the sky archipelago above the last tower I could also find the Flux Construct with a bounty on its head (or its box) in Lookout Landing. This is yet another milestone, because – as I had hoped – this now let's you hunt for medals, like the ones you got from Kilton in Breath of the Wild, only that it makes a lot more sense here, because it's in the interest of the monster-control crew that these beasts are slain. I already got the Molduga Medal, since it's still the same four as before, lurking in different locations.
As for the rest, they only tell you how many are left and not how many you've already defeated, so I had to look the total up on the internet, which seem completely random. In Breath of the Wild it was 40, 40 and 4, while in Tears of the Kingdom they probably just placed the overworld bosses wherever they felt without going for a certain number. But that's not a complaint, just an observation. It could also be that they've kept all the bosses from Breath of the Wild and simply moved them to different positions, like the Hinox Brothers in Faron, and then added more of them with the Depths and alike.
Anyway, I'm gunning for the Gleeok Medal next, because I'm only missing a couple and I already know where they are. With the other bosses I will really have to go searching, where many of them are probably just somewhere in the Depths. I'm even shocked that I haven't found half of the Froxes yet... and here I thought I was almost done down there.
Tulin Tour
Back in Hebra, some Aerocuda is teaching a Tulin a lesson about the importance of teamwork and that he might not be the reincarnation of Revali after all. So, some winged monster out of Ganondorf's minion hell has done a better job at parenting than Teba and Saki together. This is where Tulin joins you and you're introduced to his gust ability.
I was really worried for a long time that I had been missing out here, but this doesn't seem to be the case. It not even qualifies as a discount Revali's Gale, because it creates a horizontal stream, which you can use to propel you while gliding. But you won't be able to go up with it. It has its usages, where it mainly makes you glide faster to your destinations, even though it's only a short boost. And you probably want Tulin before going into the desert, so you can blow away sand more easily. So, it's nice to have, but not on the same level as Yunobo or Mineru. In terms of usefulness I would probably rank them in the following order for myself:
- Mineru
- Yunobo
- Tulin
- Riju
- Sidon
But that's only for how I utilize those abilities, where maybe I'm missing something and everyone considers Sidon to be the hot stuff. I usually turn Sidon's and Riju's vows off, so they aren't constantly in the way, and only bring them into the game for bigger battles. I even wish that there was some shortcut to activate and deactivate the vows, so that I don't have to do it via the menu all the time... I guess this could have been solved via the L button ability menu somehow.
Like Yunobo, Tulin is a real follower and I wanted to test my limits here, how far I can go with him. He directly had prove his worth to me in a little Frost Gleeok battle nearby, but he past his test with flying colors. I'm actually surprised how casually they've placed the Gleeoks here, considering that you're supposed to go to this region first. If you truly go here in the early game, you are faced with obstacles that you will likely not overcome. To me Hebra even feels like the perfect choice for doing it last if you fully want to explore each area before moving on, which is how I prefer to play the game.
Next, we immediately found the Vah Medoh Divine Helmet in a neat cave, which was hard to miss due to the gigantic ice mass blocking the entrance. So, this completes my collection of these helmets, but I will get back to this a bit later in this post.
You can walk with Tulin around the northwest border in the Hebra region, but you're not free to explore the entire map area with him, his boundaries are completely independent from that. He won't go with you to Rito Village, where I was hoping to visit his parents with him, but he will go with you to the Pikida Stonegrove and the Skyview Tower there.
So, overall it's on par with Yunobo, and clearly better than Riju and Sidon, where the journey to the legendary Stormwind Ark is similar to reaching the Water Temple, except that Tulin doesn't ran off every chance he gets. With that in mind I'm actually happy that I've played the Zora quest line first, because it's only up from there.
And traversing the flying ships and ruins around the storm cloud feels like playing Only Up! in Zelda, only that's probably more fun. I've done the whole thing the "intended" way, without any Zonai devices, but in the end it turned out that I could have simply flown the hover bike right into the blizzard after all, because it's open at the very top.
This probably lets you reach the Wind Temple early, which should also be possible for the Fire Temple and the Water Temple. Only the Lightning Temple really needs Riju for it to even appear, though I might be wrong here. These are just my guesses and it will be interesting to experiment should I ever decide to replay this game... Which probably won't be anytime soon, given that there is no Master Mode.
The Wind Temple
Nintendo is really stretching it with the term "temple" here, but I don't mind, because the Stormwind Ark offers an impressive set piece for a Zelda dungeon. It's similar to the Sandship from Skyward Sword, where you can explore below deck and in this case even all around the hull.
It also comes equipped with massive cannons, which you can destroy via Recall. And there are still some of the smaller ships around it, which you can use to navigate around the giant ark, all inside the massive storm cloud. It's fantastic.
The soundtrack completes the overall atmosphere, where the second phase is the ominous music that plays in the beginning of the Ganondorf trailer from February. As with the other three main dungeons, you also get this wild mix in the later phases, combining Vah Medoh's and Revali's themes with the Zonai chants from the prologue and some new tunes. It works for the moment, but I personally feel that the temple themes aren't as memorable because of this.
And as interesting this dungeon may be when it comes to the theme, it can't hide the fact that it's overall very simple. Again, you have to activate five switches with the help of your sage companion, and that's really it. Since this is intended to be your first temple, I can forgive the simplicity, but it's a general problem with the dungeons in Tears of the Kingdom.
The temples fully outshine the Divine Beasts from Breath of the Wild when it comes to theming and boss variety, but mechanically the Divine Beasts were a lot more interesting and challenging. The ability to alter the entire dungeon, akin to flipping the Stone Tower Temple, at any time was ingenious. In Tears of the Kingdom this got replaced with the companion system, which is something I wanted out of Breath of the Wild, but with how they implemented it this makes the dungeons feel also very repetitive, just in a different way.
It's especially bad with how these temples end, because they all end in the exact same way, and it certainly has lost its charm the fourth time. It shows you the Imprisoning War four times over, always with a slight shift from the perspective of the respective sage, but still always the same. And they all conclude the same with the "revelation" that Zelda was the Sage of Time, which I already know and knew for a while, which brings us back to the problem from earlier, where the whole quest is still about finding Zelda for some reason.
Of course, you can play these temples in any order and it makes sense for them to play out like this for the first time. I just wish that things were more dynamic based on your progression in the game, where this would also add some replay value.
Anyway, I already fought Colgera before, so this boss fight didn't offer anything new either. But this is on me and at the time I was wondering how Tulin's ability would come into play... Turns out not much, or at least I couldn't figure out anything substantial, like with the others. For example, Yunobo's ability is essential to breaking Marbled Gohma's legs and rocks, where I can't imagine fighting the boss without him (though, it has to be possible). In this case Tulin's gust ability primarily helps with dodging Colgera's attacks, but it's not required.
I guess, it's similar with Riju, where you don't necessarily need her power to harm the Queen Gibdo. But I think it's required to destroy the Gibdo hives, where the battle should become a lot more chaotic without her. And in Sidon's case dealing with all the mud without him is a massive pain in the backside, but it's doable. One day I will try to beat the final boss without freeing any of the sages, but until then I can go into the Depths to experiment.
Hottest Village in Hyrule
With Colgera and the storm cloud gone, you are faced with what's probably the most unintentionally funny scene in the entire game. Rito Village returns back to normal, but it does so very quickly. All the snow covering the village melts within seconds, as if the village became a giant boiling pot all of sudden.
And everything around the village in the Tabantha Frontier stays covered in snow, where it becomes this hole of spring in a land of winter. It's weird and they probably should have kept more of the snow to create a better transition. If you want the village to look exactly like in Breath of the Wild, you can always go back to Breath of the Wild, and I liked the change of theme here actually.
Speaking of Breath of the Wild, it's interesting how the rock above the village is still referred to as "Vah Medoh's perch". Vah what-now? What's a Divine Beast? Has this anything to do with that weird helmet, which I found together with Tulin? Who doesn't even remember the fact...
You don't know? You were right there with me...!
These helmets let you increase the bond with your vows, where you can make one of them stronger by wearing them, it seems. The vow in question then even wears the corresponding sage helmet. So, that's a neat little extra, giving them some value without the Ancient Armor, where they had a set bonus. I still think that they should have been redesigned based on the sages
from the Zonai era, because they appear somewhat "detached" in this game, and you could have combined them with the Zonaite set
instead to still have a set bonus and to have something to match them.
As for the vows, I have exactly 16 Sage's Wills and upgraded them all, except for Sidon, who ironically is the sage I have freed first. Speaks for his usefulness...
Now, there is still one big mystery to solve for me in Rito Village: where in the world is Kass? His wife, Amali, also seems to be gone, where they have left their children in their nest at Rito Village, but they are nowhere to be found there. That's even worse parenting than Teba and Saki, because they at least are present.
Maybe I haven't found them yet or maybe Nintendo didn't want to bring the character of Kass back, because he's someone who really has shaped the atmosphere in Breath of the Wild with his accordion tunes. He's part of the identity of the previous game, where he may have vanished without explanation, together with the Divine Beasts and Sheikah Shrines. But he (and his wife) would be the exception among the cast of characters, where everyone else, who was still alive at the end of Breath of the Wild, has returned for the sequel, from what I can tell.
The Eternity of Hebra Mountains
I've always had this love-hate relationship with the Hebra region, where part of me was hoping that clearing the Wind Temple would make the area somehow nicer. Well, it does, because there is now a chance that the sun might be shining, but like in Breath of the Wild this is a rare occurrence and the game is quick to let it snow again whenever you're taking out your camera for something.
The shield surfing mini-game with Selmie remains pretty much the same, but she has two students now and you first have to help her out of a cave, which you can use as a neat shortcut for the advanced course. Like in Breath of the Wild, I'm mainly struggling with the beginner's course, however, where I'm barely able to make it...
My goal was to collect all pieces of the Frostbite armor set, otherwise exploring the Hebra Mountains mainly increased my total of Bubbul Gems and Korok Seeds.
I really liked this mystery mushroom cave as a special discovery, but there's an actual side quest tied to finding this place, as I would find out later. This made it feel a bit less special, but at the same time I can understand that they didn't want to leave it like this. On the other hand, Ocarina of Time had some very unique grottos, which you may never find and also don't need to find in order to complete everything.
The new Korok puzzles where you have to create a roof for one or multiple statues are also quite neat. It made me feel super smart when I solved one for the first time, where these are somewhat obscure, but also intuitive at the same time. There are plenty of them around Hebra and I don't think I have noticed them before... But it's one more thing to keep an eye out for now, where by now I have exactly 500 Korok Seeds.
I don't know the total yet and I want to find out myself, but I'm guessing that it's more than 900 this time, maybe 1000. Like with the shrines, there are probably more due to the sky islands. And I could imagine that it's still 900 puzzles, but 100 of them are these transport missions, where you get two seeds at once. I will see and I'm determined to collect all Korok Seeds also in this game, once I'm done with everything else. But I'm getting there...
My next goal is to take down the two remaining Gleeoks, one at the Gerudo Highlands and one at Akkala Citadel, and then return to Lookout Landing for my medal... and the story finale.
Progress:
Sage's Vows: 5/5- Sage's Wills: 16/20
- Main Quests: 18/23
- Side Adventures: 56/60
- Shrine Quests: 28/31
- Side Quests: 111/139
- Memories: 17/18
Towers: 15/15- Shrines: 145
- Caves: 137/147
- Korok Seeds: 500
- Schema Stones: 11
- Yiga Schematics: 32
- Old Maps: 18
- Map Completion: 78.65%
Medals:
- Taluses: 58/87
- Hinox: 43/69
Molduga: 4/4- Flux Constructs: 26/35
- Froxes: 17/40
- Gleeoks: 12/14
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