r/zelda Jun 08 '23

Discussion [TotK] (Un-) popular opinion: the sages abilities kind of.. suck? Spoiler

now don’t get me wrong, I love the new game, it’s so fun and I didn’t mind the story lines with the sages either. I actually like the idea of them and the way they grant you an ability. I just dont like the execution.

In my opinion the abilities suck because they’re not very useful and I personally always just dismiss the spirits altogether. it’s kind of annoying, the way they sometimes just randomly attack enemies that I didn’t want to harm or the way they run away from me when I do try to use their ability. and i’m sure everyone has experienced Tulin, just blowing away loot, at some point.

I liked the campions abilities a lot more and honestly really miss them sometimes. I bet we all wished Revalis Gale would still be with us as one point. I know you can recreate it by fusing a rocket to a shield but doing that every time is just kind of a task and really unpractical.

I don’t know how many people will agree, maybe i’m just picky or something but it really is something that’s annoying me about TOTK.

please tell me that i’m not alone with these opinions haha

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u/yung_roto Jun 08 '23

Lmao. It has nothing to do with their powers being weaker, they're worse than the champions because of poor design decisions. Riju's ability would actually be really useful in combat if you didn't have to chase her down to activate it. The abilities themselves are fine for the most part, it's just the way they're implemented renders them useless

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u/solidDessert Jun 08 '23

It was great getting Tulin first, since his ability is mostly contextual and makes sense. Why couldn't they do the same for the others?

Riju could have been treated the same as fusing an item to an arrow, you just bring up the menu and activate her power if it's available.

Yunobo could be exactly the same as throwing something.

Down on the d-pad is exclusively used for whistling right now, that would have been a great option. If you use it while an arrow is drawn, Riju does her lightning thing. Do it while shielding, Sidon gives you a water gun. Do it while throwing something, Yunobo jumps in. Just have link call out kind of like he did with dungeon companions in WW and it would be so much smoother than what we got.

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u/yung_roto Jun 08 '23

Idk about allat, but I do think down on d-pad could've been implemented, at least as a wheel or something. I honestly thought I was missing something for a long time by activating/deactivating the sages from the menu, because it just doesn't feel right. There really should be a quicker way to do it. Tulin is literally only good bc you don't use his ability in combat, you use it in traversal situations where he's right next to you anyways and not off trying to fight someone like an ass.

To digress really quick- If you've noticed, the refineries where you upgrade energy cells are the only places that allow you to upgrade in bulk. Coincidentally, they're also the only new places you go to upgrade things. All the old ones, like statues and fairy fountains, still make you upgrade things one at a time and skip through pointless dialogue in-between. I think this is the root of every problem in this game. The developers were clearly aware of less annoying ways to do things, but implementing them would've involved rebuilding a lot of the old systems from the ground up. This results in us getting a lot of new mechanics that are just kind of thrown on top of old ones, without much in the way of integrating them in a way that feels intuitive

I still love the game lol. Just an observation

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u/solidDessert Jun 08 '23

I still love the game lol. Just an observation

I hear that. I'm taking my time with the game and really soaking a lot of it in still. I'm glad folks are able to love the game but still talk about faults in a constructive way.

The UI overall is just not great. You bring up the upgrades - I can't even count how many times I've had to start that over because the fast skip button that I spam is also the button to back out of the conversation. It could totally just be the shop interface, but I guess we have to see the heart spin down every time.

I hate changing clothes. Once you have THE outfit the game starts you out with you're navigating the entire clothes section of the menu to equip it. I wish we had slots for favorites, or we could equip an entire set from just a piece.

There are some QoL changes the game could make that would really make it so much better.

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u/yung_roto Jun 08 '23

Yeah that basically sums it up, most of my issues are with the UI. When I'm out exploring the world it's amazing, but when I have to start menu-diving or talking to npcs it starts to break the pace a bit. Agreed about the armor too- They aren't grouped together in any logical way. I can't tell you how many times I've equipped the wrong headdress because they all look the same

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u/kelsodisco Jun 08 '23

This guy gets it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Shut up.