I'm more of an old school Zelda fan, Breath of the Wild didn't win me over much, and I'm not sure I prefer this over classic, but Tears of the Kingdom has been an incredible experience, even if shrines and durability are still really not my thing.
I think with just a few tweaks, Tears managed to open so many possibilities on its sandbox that shrines don't carry the burden of being one of the few interesting things to pursue in the world. Caves and the sky islands provide other diversions with their own unique rewards, it feels like I have more to experiment and distract myself.
When it comes to items, fusing increases your stockpile of good weapons and make durability less of an issue. The same is true to arrows which are now more plentiful and can be charged with multiple functions through fusing simple items. Building with ultrahand provides a lot of interesting uses for puzzles, and allow for an even higher degree of player experimentation.
Without being too spoilery, I enjoy the main setpieces in this game better than the Divine Beasts, I still think they are far from rivaling good classic dungeons, but multiple factors certain elevate them in my perspective. As for the shrines they are really my main disappointment in this game, it feels like they never leave the "tutorial" territory. Exploration is by far the most interesting aspect in this new era of Zelda, these puzzles in shrines feel like a relic of a past that doesn't have a place here, not at this quantity and quality at least.
Tears of the Kingdom feels like an upgrade to Breath of the Wild ideas in most every front, from progression to gameplay systems. It is the new style of game Zelda is now, with a more robust understanding of what makes it interesting. It is an outstanding technical achievement not only for making this run on Switch, but for having so many complex systems interact with each other. I think for all these elements coming together, it certainly deserves to be called a masterpiece.
I think with just a few tweaks, Tears managed to open so many possibilities on its sandbox that shrines don't carry the burden of being one of the few interesting things to pursue in the world. Caves and the sky islands provide other diversions with their own unique rewards, it feels like I have more to experiment and distract myself.
When it comes to items, fusing increases your stockpile of good weapons and make durability less of an issue. The same is true to arrows which are now more plentiful and can be charged with multiple functions through fusing simple items. Building with ultrahand provides a lot of interesting uses for puzzles, and allow for an even higher degree of player experimentation.
Without being too spoilery, I enjoy the main setpieces in this game better than the Divine Beasts, I still think they are far from rivaling good classic dungeons, but multiple factors certain elevate them in my perspective. As for the shrines they are really my main disappointment in this game, it feels like they never leave the "tutorial" territory. Exploration is by far the most interesting aspect in this new era of Zelda, these puzzles in shrines feel like a relic of a past that doesn't have a place here, not at this quantity and quality at least.
Tears of the Kingdom feels like an upgrade to Breath of the Wild ideas in most every front, from progression to gameplay systems. It is the new style of game Zelda is now, with a more robust understanding of what makes it interesting. It is an outstanding technical achievement not only for making this run on Switch, but for having so many complex systems interact with each other. I think for all these elements coming together, it certainly deserves to be called a masterpiece.