The 10 BEST Improvements in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
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VOICE OVER: Johnny Reynolds
WRITTEN BY: Johnny Reynolds
Other than giving us a ton of new places to explore, “Tears of the Kingdom” made a lot of improvements on “Breath of the Wild.” For this list, we'll be looking at some of our favorite changes that built upon the already excellent foundation. Our list of the best improvements in "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" includes the Villain, Weapon Durability, the Dungeons, Slip Resistance, and more!
Script written by Johnny Reynolds
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re showcasing the 10 Best Improvements in “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.” Other than giving us a ton of new places to explore, “Tears of the Kingdom” made a lot of improvements on “Breath of the Wild.” For this list, we’ll be looking at some of our favorites that built upon the already excellent foundation. There were plenty of changes made, so be sure to head to the comments and let us know what some of your favorite improvements were!
Nintendo shook up traditional dungeon design in “Breath of the Wild” by giving us bite-sized Shrines, along with the Divine Beasts. We loved the feeling of discovering these hidden puzzles or combat scenarios, yet “Tears of the Kingdom” has made them even better. Not only are there more of them, but there’s also a lot of creative freedom for the player. There are multiple solutions to many of them, none of which thankfully rely on motion controls. Additionally, the Purah Pad’s sensor chime for them is far less annoying, and it now tells you if they’re above you or underground. Combined with their connection to the Light Roots in the Depths, hunting for them is much easier.
“Tears of the Kingdom” came with a smorgasbord of quality of life changes. They may be small, but are certainly noticeable. And they all add up to a much smoother experience. When the player activates slow-mo in mid-air, Link’s stamina only drains for each knocked arrow, rather than draining continuously while you line up your shot. In addition to showing hints, the loading screen now includes your map location. Being able to drop weapons and shields from a pull-up menu rather than pausing and scrolling through your whole inventory has also saved a lot of time. Speaking of inventory, you can now sort each category in a handful of ways. These are only scratching the surface.
The evil defactors of the Sheikah were a bit of a nuisance in “Breath of the Wild.” Their hideout forced you into stealth mode and Master Kohga’s fight didn’t exactly paint him as a leader. “Tears of the Kingdom” managed to keep their silliness while making them more adaptable and a bigger threat. The Clan has been thriving in the Depths, figuring out Zonai tech better than anyone other than Link. Kohga’s fights, spread out across several locations, are also more fun and a bit more of a challenge. While they still disguise themselves as travelers on the road, they’ve stepped their game up to actually surprise us, taking on the forms of trees, Zelda, and even a psychic Cucco at one point.
“Tears of the Kingdom” uses the same storytelling device as “Breath of the Wild.” Link must hunt down memories of Zelda in the past, which explain the plot. However, finding these memories has been made significantly easier and a lot more enjoyable. During the opening hours, Link learns massive geoglyphs have appeared in various parts of Hyrule. In the first game, you had pictures and the painter Pikango’s advice to lead you in the right direction, but you still had to scour an area before you found it. The geoglyphs are obviously much better indicators and since you can spot them from far away, you can easily mark them with a beacon. Plus, then you can dive to them from above, which is never not fun.
We’ve all been there, trying to climb the side of a mountain only for the rain to make us slide down, wasting stamina and cursing Nintendo’s dynamic weather system. It was an understandable annoyance in “Breath of the Wild,” but you can’t just remove rain for the sequel. What Nintendo did do was give us a way around it. You can now make elixirs with sticky frogs and lizards that will grant you slip resistance when climbing in wet environments. If you don’t want to have to keep making those, there’s also a more permanent solution. Through the Lucky Clover Gazette’s many side quests, Link can earn the Froggy Armor. Upgrading the full set twice will ensure Link never slips again.
“Zelda” isn’t exactly known for deep villains, and Calamity Ganon was certainly shallow. This was far from the first time Link had fought a mindless, monster version of the antagonist. Plus, if you did the Divine Beasts, half his health bar was destroyed before the fight even began. In comparison, “Tears of the Kingdom’s” Ganondorf is much stronger. Though he is still only seen in a handful of scenes from a massive game, at least he still gets to talk. And voice actor Matt Mercer did a pretty good job at selling his malevolence. We were far more intimidated heading into the final fight. Of course, the difficulty level of that fight depends on your Shrine completion rate and how much you’ve upgraded your armor. But on a surface level, it’s a much more challenging battle.
A big change to the formula that “Breath of the Wild” brought was its survival mechanics, including a reliance on cooking meals and elixirs. We love that Link now hums classic “Zelda” tunes when preparing a meal, but the act itself has also gotten some improvements. Within the menu, you can now see all the individual ingredients laid out above Link, rather than just seeing them in his arms. What really made us happy, though, was learning that the game now saves your recipes. Too many times in the first game did we eat a meal or drink an elixir, only to wish we had taken note of its ingredients and had to look them up to replicate it.
“Breath of the Wild” paid loving homage to multiple past “Zelda” games with different wearable items, whether they were full armor sets or helms like Majora’s Mask. But in order to get them, you had to fork over some money for DLC or Amiibo. While you still can earn armor sets that dress you like past incarnations of Link with Amiibo, players who don’t feel like spending extra money can still get them. The Fierce Deity armor is earned through a side quest, but many others are hidden in chests within the Depths, giving you another reason to explore the new area. Furthermore, Nintendo has extended this love through weapons, so you can dress like past heroes as well as fight like them.
One of the more frequent complaints about “Breath of the Wild” was weapon durability. While it didn’t bother us too much, others hated losing weapons and having to find them again. Durability has not been removed for “Tears,” but it has been notably improved through the Fuse mechanic. Since this ability allows Link to fuse any material to any weapon, it increases not only its damage output, but also how long it will last before breaking. Because there are so many materials, it also gives players a lot of variety in what types of weapons they can create. Despite all weapons still having a limit, this has caused that common complaint to become far less frequent.
Although we wouldn’t say they quite reach the high bar set by some of the dungeons in more traditional “Zelda” titles, the dungeons of “Tears” are a major step up from the Divine Beasts. It’s much more fun getting to explore these unique structures rather than constantly having to pause so you can move certain parts around. Since the Divine Beasts all had those moving components, the dungeons of “Tears” get a bit more room to feature different types of puzzles, even if the base objectives are relatively similar. There’s also a lot more focus on exploration and build-up as you journey to each one. And having the Sages work with you inside lends these dungeons a level of companionship missing from the first game.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re showcasing the 10 Best Improvements in “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.” Other than giving us a ton of new places to explore, “Tears of the Kingdom” made a lot of improvements on “Breath of the Wild.” For this list, we’ll be looking at some of our favorites that built upon the already excellent foundation. There were plenty of changes made, so be sure to head to the comments and let us know what some of your favorite improvements were!
The Shrines
Nintendo shook up traditional dungeon design in “Breath of the Wild” by giving us bite-sized Shrines, along with the Divine Beasts. We loved the feeling of discovering these hidden puzzles or combat scenarios, yet “Tears of the Kingdom” has made them even better. Not only are there more of them, but there’s also a lot of creative freedom for the player. There are multiple solutions to many of them, none of which thankfully rely on motion controls. Additionally, the Purah Pad’s sensor chime for them is far less annoying, and it now tells you if they’re above you or underground. Combined with their connection to the Light Roots in the Depths, hunting for them is much easier.
Quality of Life
“Tears of the Kingdom” came with a smorgasbord of quality of life changes. They may be small, but are certainly noticeable. And they all add up to a much smoother experience. When the player activates slow-mo in mid-air, Link’s stamina only drains for each knocked arrow, rather than draining continuously while you line up your shot. In addition to showing hints, the loading screen now includes your map location. Being able to drop weapons and shields from a pull-up menu rather than pausing and scrolling through your whole inventory has also saved a lot of time. Speaking of inventory, you can now sort each category in a handful of ways. These are only scratching the surface.
The Yiga Clan
The evil defactors of the Sheikah were a bit of a nuisance in “Breath of the Wild.” Their hideout forced you into stealth mode and Master Kohga’s fight didn’t exactly paint him as a leader. “Tears of the Kingdom” managed to keep their silliness while making them more adaptable and a bigger threat. The Clan has been thriving in the Depths, figuring out Zonai tech better than anyone other than Link. Kohga’s fights, spread out across several locations, are also more fun and a bit more of a challenge. While they still disguise themselves as travelers on the road, they’ve stepped their game up to actually surprise us, taking on the forms of trees, Zelda, and even a psychic Cucco at one point.
Geoglyphs
“Tears of the Kingdom” uses the same storytelling device as “Breath of the Wild.” Link must hunt down memories of Zelda in the past, which explain the plot. However, finding these memories has been made significantly easier and a lot more enjoyable. During the opening hours, Link learns massive geoglyphs have appeared in various parts of Hyrule. In the first game, you had pictures and the painter Pikango’s advice to lead you in the right direction, but you still had to scour an area before you found it. The geoglyphs are obviously much better indicators and since you can spot them from far away, you can easily mark them with a beacon. Plus, then you can dive to them from above, which is never not fun.
Slip Resistance
We’ve all been there, trying to climb the side of a mountain only for the rain to make us slide down, wasting stamina and cursing Nintendo’s dynamic weather system. It was an understandable annoyance in “Breath of the Wild,” but you can’t just remove rain for the sequel. What Nintendo did do was give us a way around it. You can now make elixirs with sticky frogs and lizards that will grant you slip resistance when climbing in wet environments. If you don’t want to have to keep making those, there’s also a more permanent solution. Through the Lucky Clover Gazette’s many side quests, Link can earn the Froggy Armor. Upgrading the full set twice will ensure Link never slips again.
The Villain
“Zelda” isn’t exactly known for deep villains, and Calamity Ganon was certainly shallow. This was far from the first time Link had fought a mindless, monster version of the antagonist. Plus, if you did the Divine Beasts, half his health bar was destroyed before the fight even began. In comparison, “Tears of the Kingdom’s” Ganondorf is much stronger. Though he is still only seen in a handful of scenes from a massive game, at least he still gets to talk. And voice actor Matt Mercer did a pretty good job at selling his malevolence. We were far more intimidated heading into the final fight. Of course, the difficulty level of that fight depends on your Shrine completion rate and how much you’ve upgraded your armor. But on a surface level, it’s a much more challenging battle.
Cooking
A big change to the formula that “Breath of the Wild” brought was its survival mechanics, including a reliance on cooking meals and elixirs. We love that Link now hums classic “Zelda” tunes when preparing a meal, but the act itself has also gotten some improvements. Within the menu, you can now see all the individual ingredients laid out above Link, rather than just seeing them in his arms. What really made us happy, though, was learning that the game now saves your recipes. Too many times in the first game did we eat a meal or drink an elixir, only to wish we had taken note of its ingredients and had to look them up to replicate it.
Relics of the Past
“Breath of the Wild” paid loving homage to multiple past “Zelda” games with different wearable items, whether they were full armor sets or helms like Majora’s Mask. But in order to get them, you had to fork over some money for DLC or Amiibo. While you still can earn armor sets that dress you like past incarnations of Link with Amiibo, players who don’t feel like spending extra money can still get them. The Fierce Deity armor is earned through a side quest, but many others are hidden in chests within the Depths, giving you another reason to explore the new area. Furthermore, Nintendo has extended this love through weapons, so you can dress like past heroes as well as fight like them.
Weapon Durability
One of the more frequent complaints about “Breath of the Wild” was weapon durability. While it didn’t bother us too much, others hated losing weapons and having to find them again. Durability has not been removed for “Tears,” but it has been notably improved through the Fuse mechanic. Since this ability allows Link to fuse any material to any weapon, it increases not only its damage output, but also how long it will last before breaking. Because there are so many materials, it also gives players a lot of variety in what types of weapons they can create. Despite all weapons still having a limit, this has caused that common complaint to become far less frequent.
The Dungeons
Although we wouldn’t say they quite reach the high bar set by some of the dungeons in more traditional “Zelda” titles, the dungeons of “Tears” are a major step up from the Divine Beasts. It’s much more fun getting to explore these unique structures rather than constantly having to pause so you can move certain parts around. Since the Divine Beasts all had those moving components, the dungeons of “Tears” get a bit more room to feature different types of puzzles, even if the base objectives are relatively similar. There’s also a lot more focus on exploration and build-up as you journey to each one. And having the Sages work with you inside lends these dungeons a level of companionship missing from the first game.
