Things Missing from the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Things Missing from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (as Well as General Notes for Improvement).

-        Memorable music.

-        A horse which can be summoned.

-        Combat moves comparable to Twilight Princess or Wind Waker.

-        A fast Z-Target.

-        A permanent slot for key items, such as the Torch, the Korok Leaf, the Boomerang, and items missing which were in previous Zelda games such as the Lens of Truth, the Hookshot, the Iron Boots, Hover Boots, an Instrument, Bottles, Gauntlets, Fairy Bow, Master Sword, Hylian Shield, and Mirror Shield. These could be incorporated with breakable items, marrying the benefits of old and new Zelda games.

-        A magic metre.

-        Masks with wide and multifarious powers.

-        Temples of the scale and variety of those in Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword.

-        As many temples as Ocarina of Time which had three child temples (Deku Tree, Dodongo’s Cavern, JabuJabu’s Belly), five adult temples (Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Desert [While Wind Waker has Wind and Twilight Princess has Time]), and three mini-temples in the Ice Cavern, the Bottom of the Well, and Gerudo Training Grounds. Locked doors and keys should return.

-        A set camera view when talking to characters. Often the view of the character is blocked by Link himself.

-        Towns, and certainly no inhabited location of the magnitude and variety of Clock Town.

-        Collectible Heart Pieces; these should be rewards in side quests in order to make them worthwhile. All the effort put into making shrines should be put into making better and more numerous temples.

-        Bosses as interesting as Koloktos and Tentalus from Skyward Sword, Barinade, Bongo Bongo, Dark Link, and Twinrova from Ocarina of Time, Odolwa and Goht from Majora’s Mask, Kalle Demos from Wind Waker (which is the most visually stunning of all the Zelda bosses), or Ganondorf in Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. Bosses should also have more phases and be much more difficult, while some standard enemies should be easier.

-        Light Arrows.

-        Hearts from enemies. These should return, as well as some magic orbs for a magic metre. Pausing too much in Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild in order to eat meals is disruptive to the gameplay, ironically unrealistic, and too easily abused. Meals should be reduced to being only once cooked and eaten at an inn for a status effect, as they are they remain time-consuming, clumsy, overpowered, and render combat almost absurd. The number of animals and ingredients can be reduced with the size of the overworld. This will make them more special to find, like the bug catching in Skyward Sword. Potions are fine and can be put in the empty bottles (which should return as key items).

-        Link’s signature green tunic should return from the beginning and most optional armour ought to be variations on the same clothes, keeping the cap, as in Twilight Princess. Armour sets should be greatly reduced in number, and it ought to be possible (though difficult) to put all armour effects into Link’s original clothing at once. This could be done by some system of spiritual upgrades, with something like spirit orbs that could be converted from monster parts (thus incentivising combat, which is wanted in a game without an experience system).

-        Poes as enemies, as well as Skulltulas, Iron Knuckles or Darknuts, Wallmasters, Dodongos, Stalfos, Wolfos, Stalhounds, Deku Babas, and Deku Scrubs.

-        A camera which is lower down, makes Link look closer to the player, and lends a sense of scale to the world. Tears of the Kingdom has the appearance of a massive world which is always looked down on from a helicopter. A camera which settles automatically closer to Link but which can be zoomed out by hand would be a good compromise. All the old Zelda games actually look larger because of their camera.

-        An art style with more memorable character designs, and looking less washed out in the fields and mountains. Many of them look identical and bland and out of keeping with the characters and enemies. Wind Waker did this best, but Majora’s Mask’s graphics seem to visually epitomise the unique style of Zelda; something in between, which Tears of the Kingdom almost approaches at times. It excels with flame effects, less so with desert and water effects.

-        Much better looking trees which blow in winds during storms like in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.

-        Underwater gameplay to the standard of Majora’s Mask with a swimming ability equal to the Zora mask’s ability, and an underwater Water Temple.

-        Return of the Great Sea. A future Zelda game might well incorporate sky, land, sea, and underground. The underground could easily be much smaller and more interesting, following specific routes. The sea should be equal to Wind Waker, with equal weather effects and swelling billows, with the main continent in the middle, and various islands to explore in the distance. The border of the sea should be presented as a mist, like in the Lost Woods which confuses the boat. The Great Sea Theme should return in a new variation as one of the pieces of music played at sea (it is after all a variation of the Zelda theme).

-        Themes from past games should in general be incorporated in an occasional and appropriate way, as Zelda’s lullaby, the main theme, and the Rito village theme are already. This should not displace but complement all new music which, as aforesaid, should be to a higher standard.

-        A ghost train running underground could be an interesting shadow temple. The ghost ship should also return at sea.

-        Stealth sections such as in the Gerudo, Pirate, and Forsaken Fortresses, Hyrule Castle, and the Deku Palace; one section was ironically in Breath of the Wild, in the Yiga Clan Hideout.

-        Races such as the Deku Scrubs and Mogmas; characters such as Tingle and Dampe.

-        A fishing area. The Fishing Hole in Twilight Princess is one of the most visually and musically beautiful areas in any Zelda game; the river rapids mini-game is also visually exceptional in Twilight Princess. Generally the water in Tears of the Kingdom is unimportant, unexplored, static, and a hindrance.

-        Climbing could very well be limited to certain surfaces in a future Zelda game, making level design much easier and traversal less tedious. It would mean areas like the river in Twilight Princess or Lanayru Gorge in Skyward Sword could be designed without worrying about geographical continuity.

-        The stamina gauge should go as it is ugly; stamina instead can be the white around the edges of the hearts, which diminishes to grey with use, and is increased with the heart containers (which makes much more sense than a ‘stamina container’) and shown in the speed of Link’s movements, but the cooldown should simply return him to normal speed without making him flag.

-        Voice acting should be in an invented language like Midna or as in the Last Guardian. It is jarring in a real language as the Zelda universe is so unique. It might even be removed altogether without injury.

-        The ‘ruined’ appearance of the world in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is not visually appealing. Ruins in future should be limited areas if they appear at all.

-        The Sheikah slate is completely at odds with the Zelda world, as is the technology theme of the last two Zelda games generally. A return to collectible maps and compasses would be more appropriate and interesting, and do away with the tower mechanic. All possible technology should be replaced with magic.

-        A story which is not told almost entirely in flashbacks.

-        Credits scenes such as in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.

-        Horses should be easier to control and mounted combat should be as easy as in Twilight Princess.

-        The party system doesn’t suit Zelda.

-        The quantity of collectible and disposable items should be vastly reduced and the menus should be themed, not transparent black boxes.

-        The open world should be reduced in size and increased in variety.

-        Forty hearts seems a good number for a large open world. Taking eight temples, as Ocarina of Time’s ideal number, with eight bosses, that results in eleven mandatory hearts, leaving twenty-nine containers or 116 heart pieces which can be rewarded in side-quests, mini-games, mini-dungeons (but not shrines: contiguous in the overworld) and found in hidden places (a good use for the Lens of Truth).