Better But Not The Best | TOTK Dungeons 

Anything to say about the Spirit Temple?

The sky felt underutilized in this regard to me. I was expecting larger connected sky islands with big cave systems and dungeons that were better incorporated into the sky. I was very disappointed with the water temple, because it felt like a big boring mass just floating there for no reason. I would've preferred if the ancient waterworks was the actual water temple tbh.

"I *could* do the fire temple normally. OR I COULD USE A FLYING MACHINE" Jokes aside, credit where its due, the lightning temple being the only one to actually force you to help riju navigate alongside you (unlike all the others who could just teleport to you) was appreciated, and queen gibdo being as strong as she was made me glad I did that one last.

The approach to the Wind Temple is my favourite sequence in any Zelda game, but it really benefitted from being the first temple I visited. A flying machine would have made it trivial (like the Fire Temple was) and I was still low enough in hearts and resources that Constructs were still challenging enemies. The temple itself was meh, I agree. I also loved the low gravity of the water temple, although it was more of a fun gimmick than an actual dungeon mechanic

The thing is, i feel like that some of the dungeons are more contained beacouse the run up to them is very long, just think about the water temple, you find the king, do the puzzle, get underground, flood the place, get in the sky, explore the sky island and THEN there is the water temple, i honestly prefereed that it was shorter beacouse honestly the run up was long, but again i agree that it still was sorta bad.

What I don't like about the TOTK dungeons is the concept of activating 5 or 4 things to get to the boss. It made more sense for me for them to implement it in the Divine Beasts because they were mechanical beings. I just think that they for sure could have found domething other or at least make it a bit more creative

I don’t understand why they can’t make an open world Zelda game with a story that is happening and unfolding on your current journey with fully fledged dungeons and items to collect that unlock more parts of the world and have real purpose other than random crap that breaks after a few hits. These games have so much potential to be absolutely amazing masterpieces. Imagine if The Depths was an opposite of Hyrule with unique biomes, and that actually played a part in the story. Similar to the dark world in A Link to the Past. Imagine if this game had 6 full fledged dungeons for each of the 6 sages with great unique Zelda music to match. Imagine if ganondorf had a detailed backstory that explained his connection to Link, Zelda, and the tri-force and what his motivations are. The game is good but is missing so much that could have really made it something special. It’s a shame

The Lightning Temple (The Gerudo section in general) is my favorite part of the whole game. The bewilderment I felt when I saw Gerudo Town in complete disrepair with gibdos roaming the streets was something else. It wasn't difficult or anything just a giant "wtf" moment for me and figuring out a way to make it to safety underground was even more intriguing to me. The temple itself was also fun. I don't think it is as good as WW's earth temple, but it was a nice change of pace from the other dungeons that just felt like over bloated shrines. Riju actually feeling like her own person made the temple feel more real than a place like the Fire Temple, where Yunobo would just teleport to where you were. The Wind Temple is my favorite aesthetically. A giant ark in the middle of a cyclone that you actively make your way up towards surrounded by numerous little skyships was really awesome to me. It didn't matter that the dungeon was really simple, as long as I had fun, it was worthwhile to me. Also, Colgera was a really fun fight, I especially love the fact that in his second phase he just uppercuts you out of nowhere just to give you a bit of a shock. I have nothing to say about the Water or Fire Temples. Just..... they are temples.

Yeah I pretty much agree with all the points you made. The water temple feels extremely rushed compared to the other 3, both in design and length, it's short, doesnt really make good use of low gravity or the sludge / water, and feels the least connected to the world as a real place instead of just random 4 floating islands.

I think we should let Nintendo cook. They're improving and solidifying the formula, they listened to a lot of complaints for BOTW. I think they'll listen to critiques of this game too

I think the focus here is core game mechanics. The core emphasis is player choice in botw and totk. It's more Sandbox like and because of this the dungeons have to be built around these mechanics. This is in direct contrast to the more linear/restrained core mechanics of previous 3d Zelda games. You said it yourself. You brute forced your way through the fire dungeon. And that is perfectly valid because the game is built around that. But you won't see something like that in any of the other Zelda games with the exceptions of a few puzzles here and there. The past 3d Zelda games can go wild with their dungeons because each of them are built around unique mechanics that are found only in those dungeons. Not that one is better than the other but I agree with you that I preferred the old Zelda Dungeon design, even though I haven't played totk yet. I'm pretty sure I left a similar comment on your video about Zelda moving on from its past 3d game design. This is partially why even though I like the new direction of Zelda I hope they don't completely abandon the old design. Great Video 👍

Awesome video, love your Zelda content. Totally agree Colgera was the best of the dungeon bosses, the spectacle was amazing.

I have to agree with you saying the dungeons were not as good as previous zelda games but I must say totk has the best buildup to dungeons out of most zelda games. They're so good that sometimes I like them more than the sctual dungeons in the game.

Its bizarre how MID the water temple is. Everything about it feels just not nearly as good as the other dungeons. While the pollution of the Zora is a great hook...you spend your whole first few missions running around uncovering the "mystery" of how to get to the temple, which felt more like busy work to me. (Especially since a certain 5th temple does this mystery lead up way better.) Going up to the low gravity islands is super cool, especially if its your first time, but can swiftly get soured when you're trying to figure out these puzzles and you're jumping too high or too far. Nothing about the dungeon feels exceptional in comparison to the others either. Its not an actual trap filled temple like gerudo. It wasn't this cool lead up like the Rito, and not in the depth like the Gorons. And it's boss...isn't bad, but is absolutely lesser than the others. The Zelda team just can't catch a break with water temples, huh? 😀

Coldera will deserve to have the best boss theme.

I freaking love everything about this game. Even the dungeons. I also love how you can fight the bosses as many times as you want. I’ve played over 100+ hours and I haven’t even done half of the available content.

I’ll preface this by saying this was a really interesting and well made video, and I do agree with most of your points. However, I do disagree with you on the idea that they weren’t quite large enough. Personally I think it’s reasonable to call the buildup to each dungeon a part of the Dungeon itself, complete with unique areas, sequences, and unique minibosses only fought then. Through that lense the actual “dungeon” part being so short makes a lot more sense, because you did a ton of Dungeoning already just getting there. Like, with the Water Temple not only is there the four puzzles at the Dungeon proper but there’s the section underneath the lake, and then the wellspring islands ascent which take a not insignificant amount of time and implement most of the mechanics you’ll find there. Basically the way I see, the Temples are just the second act of a much larger Dungeons that are spread across the open world itself, so judging those in a vacuum is a little unfair imo.

Finally someone said it, I thought the exact same when first going through the water temple, I prefer the old water dungeons.

The lightning temple was the only one where it i was like “oh so this is how you do it!” instead of the fire temple where I screamed for an hour straight trying to figure out what to do

Glad to hear someone shares my opinions on these dungeons. I was hearing a lot of people talking about the tears of the kingdom dungeons like they're some of the best things they've ever played. I felt kind of underwhelmed.

Based on the title alone I agree and I will not finish the video

Hear me out though. I truly found that the divine beasts played better than the totk dungeons. The puzzles were far more engaging to me and required some thinking to get through. They werent creative, but at least they were *there*. Totk definitely beats botw in just one area of complaint though, namely that the divine beasts “all looked the same”. Which, yeah. Aside from the water temple, totk has vastly more atmospheric and appealing dungeons. ie: aesthetics goes to totk, gameplay is taken by botw

Wow, I had a very different reaction to the Water Temple (coming from the perpsective of a Zelda fan for 20+ years). It had some of my favorite music in a Zelda game, and while I didn't find the puzzles challenging, I also don't really find Zelda puzzles so much "challenging" in general, I just want them to be fun and satisfying to complete mechanically, which I felt these were. I also found it cool how design-wise, it resembled the Zora's domain itself, and how the concept of low-gravity subverted the usual swimming mechanics by having you effectively "swim" through the air. I dunno, I found it more creative and thought it had more of a vibe than quite a few of the dungeons in the series even if it was on the shorter side. It wasn't my favorite, but I wouldn't have singled it out as the weakest in the game or the series, and compared to past water dungeons, I thought it was one of the more pleasant ones.

The thing is with these dungeons is they had far more of the focus on the quests themselves then the dungeon. The Water temple is painfully short but it didn’t bother me simply because having to solve several mysteries and slowly piecing together what I have to do was done perfectly for that quest, so I wasn’t overly bothered when the dungeon was just short. The Thunder Temple did disappoint me but it was more because it was the first dungeon I did so I expected more. The storyline around was amazing, I remember walking into Gerudo town and seeing that it’s destroyed and nobodies there filling me with such dread and it had me invested in trying to kill the Gibdoes. The Wind Temple I kinda fucked over for myself because I found it before I got to Rito Village. I accidentally stumbled into it(funny thing is the same thing happened with the Spirit Temple, I randomly found it on my travels far before the game actually tells you). The Fire Temple though, I fucking loved the Fire Temple in this game. It’s design is amazing, the puzzles are fun, and it doesn’t just feel like it’s entirely just “do the terminals”, it has an emphasis on how you move in the dungeon with the mine cart system. I loved piecing together which track connects into one another and figuring out where exactly I need to go. It took advantage over the one thing BOTW and TOTK have over other Zelda’s, options in terms of where you can leave and enter the dungeon and different perspectives in said dungeon. Overall I thought they were average, the wind and thunder temples didn’t make much of an impression, the water temple sucked but the quest to get there was amazing, and the fire temple was peak.

I’d say for me, the temples were lacking in the actual dungeon aspect but were pretty good in presentation and the bosses were fun. Getting to them was cool - I particularly liked the vertical climb to the wind temple. They felt really cool to find. More differing cutscenes and perhaps having not a faceless guide would’ve been nice too. But a big step up from BotW overall. If they continue with this new open world formula, I hope they expand on the actual puzzles and contain the dungeons more. I feel like I cheesed the hell out of them too much and ruined the enjoyment. Also having the objectives laid out for you, I feel like is very anti dungeon. Like, let me explore and figure it out maybe? Or find them myself? Overall I find myself in agreement with most of what you said. I’ve heard many people blindly praising the dungeons - they’re a big step up but not perfect - definitely some areas to improve. So great vid!

I agree with most of this, honestly, my personal issue is that the dungeons felt short and too straightforward, you kind of know what to expect when doing them, while old zelda dungeons were decently long and you didnt really know what to expect

I think I'm the only one that enjoyed the wind temple, it was the first temple I did in the game. It's not exactly a Zelda dungeon, but it's the closest we've gotten in 10 years. But I was super excited to actually get a boss fight at the end of the temple.

The totk fire temple makes me want to play through the 64 version of oot's water temple 10 times in a row

"This was the only dungeon located in the depths" Construct factory: 👁👄👁

I love a mysterious, atmospheric, maybe even sometimes claustrophobic dungeon. 8-8 I'm glad they made a comeback, and I hope that they get even more attention in the next game!

10/10 game so far imo and I loved the dungeons that I have played (I played them all except lightning) however I do agree that previous Zelda dungeons were more creative

Bro you are actually such a good content creator, I’m so glad I got recommended your channel early before you inevitably blow up. This is just such good commentary and it’s so easy to hear how passionate you are about this game and Zelda in general. I don’t agree with all of the points you made but even when you say something I disagree with I still understand exactly where you’re coming from. Good luck with your channel’s future but I doubt you’ll need it 🙌

I liked the Gohma bossfight the most because it was so open to how you wanted to defeat it, plus you could use most of your abilities in the fight. I really wish the Ganondorf fight made use of your hand abilities somehow.

I agree the dungeons in totk are hit or miss the fire temple is a miss in my opinion lightning temple was a hit very awesome and a kinda difficult boss (I did 3 dungeons in one day since I stalled so long to do the fire temple by the time I did it I was stacked) the water temple was a huge miss bad boss, easy puzzles most fun part was the low gravity wind temple is a hit it’s build up was great and you really feel like Rito Village is truly dying SPOILER WARNING the spirit temple I found the buildup to be cool but the puzzles to be eh and the boss was ok it’s just an ok temple

But you forgot the "mountain" of content in the spirit temple! Okay but really though the temple is really just building a mech by solving puzzels using the parts, which is cool.

It definitely was a step up from Breath of the Wild's dungeons. I just don't like how it's formatted. Go to these four points and activate these things and your done. The classic linear dungeons were much more fun. I do have hope they would continue to improve on future games. Also I personally love the Sage rewards more than the Champion ones.

I ran out of arrows on the colgera bossfight so I had to thrust downward and to be honest it was really cool! tbh cooler than standard!

I love the huge focus on openness in BotW/TotK, but it just destroys dungeons. I think the main reason these dungeons fall short is that their puzzles are so isolated, as a result of the open design. I was really excited to do the water temple in TotK, thinking back to other water temples in previous games which had interesting, fairly complex dungeon designs (I was specifically thinking about the TP Lakebed Temple with the rotating central room). Those interconnected dungeon designs forced you to think about the puzzles on a macro scale and gave a sense of nonlinearity by forcing backtracking. Conversely, the TotK water temple has four isolated puzzles with a very simple format. In old games, you solved a puzzle to unlock more puzzles, while in TotK, you solve a puzzle to get to nothing, then move to the next isolated puzzle. Think about the TP Forest Temple. The first section of the dungeon revolves around finding monkeys to progress. You spend some time to find the first monkey, then that unlocks the puzzle of finding the next monkey, and so on. In the TotK Water Temple, you go to one of the puzzles, solve it, then solve the next one. It's like instead of pushing a line of dominoes and having them all fall down in a row, you pushed 4 down separately. Nothing builds on itself.

Great video. The Wind Temple was unbelievable. The story, the grand approach, temple, and boss battle were never replicated again in the game. They easily could have made the water temple the prep dungeon for the real water temple under Lake Hylia. That would have been amazing.

As someone who played botw as their first zelda game and played other ones (minish cap, a link to the past etc...) I felt that the puzzles weren't as complex as I wanted them to be. Part of me appreciates the open endedness of the temples, however I wish they committed more to this aspect of the game. Maybe we'll get dlc that redeems the temples but as of now I am slightly disappointed.

The wind temple has such a great build up man. Rising into the air to reach the legendary ark. Then the final battle as you glide through the air to save the Rito, the boss music is easily my favorite in the entire game.

The "Water Temple" really just feels like they ran out of ideas and repurposed a bunch of random sky islands to make a "temple."

i HAD that exact feeling with Colgera too

THAT DRAGONROOST ISLAND REMIX AHHHHH ***-***

I found it awesome that before you even enter the lightning temple the boss comes out to greet you and gives you a pretty tough fight while you have to worry about the dessert climate and running around slower in the sand, then only after you make her run away do you get to actually enter the temple. the Gerudo quest line and temple were definitely the best.

I enjoyed all the dungeons but I will always prefer the older dungeons. I think they all had good puzzles, lightning was great but I wanted more, waters waterwheel was pretty good, wind had a good theme, and I cheesed fire with ascend because I didn’t know you could make vehicles in there

Getting to the temples is part of the dungeon

5:00 Every time I hear this. Every time. MY SOUL IS ON FIRE THE COMPOSERS DESERVE EVERY AWARD

The one thing I disagree with is that these dungeons are worse than every dugeon in the rest of the franchise. I agree that this isn't zelda at it's best, but there are a lot of clasic zelda dungeons that are tedious, like oracle jabu jabu, and oot jabu jabu, are bland like twilight princess's forest temple, or are braindead like honestly most of wind waker's dungeons(still love the aestetics, but we've got a lot of that here).

I wished they incorporated the low gravity mechanic or sidon's ability more into the Water temple, like there could be a switch behind bars that you can't shoot or hit with your weapons, but Sidon's ability can travel through it and hit it, or you could reverse the gravity to make the waters travel faster and make something move idk. The other temples suffer from underutilizing the companions too, but the Water temple stands out as the worst one.

I ended up doing the Lightning Temple second. Would have been first if the discovery of Gibdos and FLYING Gibdos hadn't sent me into a panic attack feuled by memories of OoT and MM

The StormBoat and WaterTemple are the same thing: Platforming all the way up to a puzzle area and hit switches, then fight boss.

It's good to hear similar thoughts. I generally like where the series is headed but the dungeons took a major hit and I hope nintendo figures out how to create good dungeons again. Honestly I thought the way the divine beasts worked was fun and unique but lacked visual variability and while totk has that, they lack structure and flow.

I totally agree with a lot of what you said; these dungeons are pretty good, but only since we've been starved of dungeons since Skyward Sword and A Link Between Worlds, and they are basically just divine beasts that have different aesthetics from each other. One of the best parts of dungeons is working them out, like unpicking the knot that the developers created, and that kinda goes away when they give you an entire layout of the dungeon from the moment you step into it. It would have been rewarding if that information was obscured a little bit, and where the terminals (sorry I mean mechanical locks or whatever they're definitely not just divine beast terminals) weren't glowing points on your map. Maybe a reintroduction of having to actually serach for the dungeon map and compass would be nice? Aesthetically, more than half (so three) were pretty compelling. I loved the build-up to the wind temple; it was one of the best feelings I've experienced in a game for a long time (I was so excited to enter it I nosedived into the deck instead of pulling out my paraglider), everything about that leadup felt incredible, but the wind temple, save for the aesthetic, was kinda mid, even though it was definitely the second best dungeon in the game. And even though it was the easiest boss, Colghera was also a super fun one! The lightning temple is the other one I would give high praises to for leadup and aesthetic (and even design, although this design is pretty lackluster in the context of traditional zelda). It felt the most like a zelda dungeon of anything in botw or totk, which is kinda sad that that's what makes something good now. It also had a good progression through the dungeon. I really miss small keys, boss keys, and dungeon items, but its neat to see that they can have dungeon progressions without them, even if they're not super complex. I also loved the Queen Gibdo fight but that's not really to do with the dungeon design so much as the combat system in this game (which is probably the best of any zelda game). The fire temple was cool I guess, it didn't feel super rewarding to solve any of the puzzles, but the mine cart tracks were an interesting touch that definitely changed up the way you moved in the dungeon. A lot of it could be cheesed, but I didn't since I was trying to treat it as a traditional Zelda dungeon (which doesn't really work in this game), although I will say that the fire temple definitely was the one that felt like it had the most to explore, but that's not saying a lot really. The spirit temple I'm not really sure you could call a dungeon but it exists, I guess. It was cool to find that there was a secret dungeon but disappointing to find out that it was just a boss fight and that's it. Although paired with the construct factory before it, it did take on a more dungeon-like appearance and feel, even if not wholly traditional. It didn't feel super different from the rest of the depths, like there wasn't anything aesthetically special about it. It did progress kind of like a traditional Zelda dungeon, where you get Mineru's ability half-way through the progression kinda like a key item, although it didn't really change the context of the area, just opened a new path to the boss, but I'll take what I can get. It did, I feel, make the most sense with the divine-beast terminals mechanic because they didn't feel like chores, you were building something. The lead-up was really cool though, I stumbled upon it before the story directed me to it, and it was super fun and difficult navigating through the low visibility of the storm and finding a main story beat on accident?? I loved that! And the water temple.... I had such high hopes for the water temple becuase there are so many mechanical puzzles you can do with water, like in past games they had the Water Temple, the Great Bay Temple, the Lakebed Temple, and the Ancient Cistern, which all had really fun navigational dungeon-wide mechanical puzzles. This one sucks though. I was really excited to enter the ancient zora waterworks, and was hoping that was where the dungeon was. It felt perfect, since there was a contained space and potential for many rooms, waterworks implying water flow puzzles, slippery walls to prevent cheesing it and enabling a better progression, connections to the depths perhaps? or to the lakebed temple in Twilight Princess? and anceint Zora civilization? That's just what could have been though, and I can't fault the developers for not doing that, even though I wish so badly that's what could have happened. That felt like the most lore-heavy location in the Zora main quest, especially compared to what we got. The most uninspired dungeon I've ever seen. The floaty mechanics were pretty cool I guess (I'm really trying to find something nice to say about this dungeon). It felt so small and presented no navigational challenge. There was that one puzzle you mentioned with the electricity current that was cool and I'm glad we're seeing more puzzles with the game's chemistry system, but nothing else really felt interesting here. I would have loved to see more waterfall climbing, maybe evaporating water so you can climb wet surfaces? following the pipes around to find the terminals (if it was a bigger dungeon)? There's just so much missed opportunity here and it pains me. And they did Sidon so dirty, his power is easily the least utilized of all of the sages. The boss wasn't bad, but I wouldn't really say any of them are. Overall I love the game and the dungeons are a lot better than BotW's dungeons, but they still feel really underwhelming and unimportant in the game developer's eyes.

I think The Spirit Temple/Construct Factory should totally be counted as a dungeon. Sure, the Construct Factory isn’t officially a Temple, and it doesn’t have a map, but the Spirit Temple that follows it is JUST the boss, and the Construct Factory has the exact same structure as all of the other temples; Start the dungeon at a central location, be told what 4/5 things you need to activate to progress, and go off and do puzzles in order to collect those things.

Really made me miss classic zelda dungeon gameplay, now that it seems they will go through this path since this game(and BOTW) sells like a hot cake I doubt we will ever get the older zelda gameplay anymore... Even if that the case they should hire another developer to create spin off like Minish Cap, or Oracle Series

Queen Gibdo has a very fun way of beating her. If you have a mirror shield, you can target her and reflect the light from the ceiling to weaken her. When I realized this, it became one the the best boss battles I have ever encountered in a Zelda game. I disagree, I think this game has better dungeons compared to some other Zelda games. And yeah, the water temple sucks, but that's the tradition XD.

I’ll have a ranking and critique of the five temples in the game: 1. The Lightning Temple is the best in the game. The only problem I have is that it only has three puzzles. The one on the first floor could’ve made use of creating an electric current using metal objects. 2. The Fire Temple can be cheesed too much with Zonai devices, so I’d make each of the gongs blocked off in a way that forces the player to engage with the navigation puzzles. 3. The Wind Temple only has four puzzles. The first puzzle is just using an ice spike on a lever. The big tower with the laser traps could’ve had a larger indoors area that leads to the first wind terminal. 4. The Construct Factory has a really cool ability, but I wish that the ability was used inside The Spirit Temple instead of the over world of The Depths. Puzzles involving the mech could’ve been centered around activating the elevator to access the boss fight. 5. The setting and regional phenomenon of The Water Temple are the main problems. If Nintendo wanted to have a floating water dungeon, then the regional phenomenon could’ve been about dispelling a sludge hurricane in the Lanaryu Sea, and the objective of the quest is to make it rise from the sea. The Water Temple could’ve had indoor areas, and five puzzles.

I couldn’t get mad at the same map. We got a WHOLE ASS SECOND MAP UNDERNEATH FUCK YEAH

I personally disagree about the Water Temple. The path to the main section of the temple I count as the dungeon, same with the other temples. The reduced gravity made me feel like I was in water in the sky. The boss, while cute, can be annoying yes. But I had a magic staff with an opal on it, so I had no issues and made it fun to clean up the muck in the fight.

Ur content is peak cause you aren’t a hater at all and I can tell you love the game as much as me but ur not afraid to say where the game falls short

okokok but i recently learned that the colgera fight was meant to be done by SKYDIVING THROUGH THE CRYSTALS and not shooting them, and watching someone do it this way looks so cool

I basically said this in the last video. I should’ve waited a min and commented that on this video lol. Anyway banger vid EDIT: I remember I had this funny moment in the fire temple. I put a cart incorrectly on the rail and it end up flying off when I activated the fan. And on your note of how things could just brute forces thru, used the camera function and walked on the rail beams lol.

I did the dungeons in the opposite order as you so I was really happy with them lol, when I started with the very mid water dungeon I thought they would all kinda suck but they only got better and better throughout the game :)

Never stop with these Zelda vidoes man, they are too good

Probably the Water Temple's "redeeming quality" is the music, but I don't outright dislike the place. I genuinely had fun doing the Water Temple in TOTK simply due to the low gravity. It surprises me that the Water Temple wasn't the first dungeon the game guides you toward since it felt like it was the shortest and arguably the easiest aside from Mucktorok being a little annoying. I guess it's due to the open layout it has as opposed to having floors like the Stormwind Ark. Yes, I'm calling it the Stormwind Ark from now on because the name sounds cooler than just the Wind Temple. xD

I like the water temple boss because I just think it is neat. Queen Gibdo was still a league of its own, I got carried by a big health bar to figure that boss

Kind of annoyed we didn't get a dodongo enemy and that the boss for the fire temple wasn't king dodongo, seems like a miss opportunity, especially since the deku tree is inflicted by an illness, very similar to oot and ghoma would be a great boss for the reward of knowing where the master sword is

I personally did Wind first, Water second, Lightning third, and Fire fourth in my playthrough. I feel like that's the optimal order in terms of difficulty progression. Yes the Fire Temple can be cheesed pretty easily if you build a flying machine or something but the actual layout of the dungeon is probably the most complex and interconnected out of the four. There were several points where I genuinely had to stop and think about how to progress. Overall the dungeons in this game are alright. Not as tightly knit and expertly crafted as dungeons in previous games (which I honestly don't blame the devs for, it's hard to design good dungeons and puzzles when Link can just cheese everything with his abilities), but I think they're a solid improvement over the Divine Beasts. They all have their own unique aesthetics and boss fights which already gives them a leg up in my opinion. One way I'd improve them is to throw in some locked doors and small keys, just that one simple change would do wonders to help the dungeons feel more complex.

I remember hearing that traditional dungeons would be returning to TOTK, which got me excited since I’ve never actually played any other zelda game except for BOTW. Once I got to what I think was the best dungeon in retrospect which was the Gruedo one i thought "Man, were the dungeons in the older games this easy?" It just felt a bit, disappointing. And keep in mind that this was the first dungeon I ever went to, which I did without the paraglider.

Now I've only completed the lightning and water temples, and yes I too really enjoyed the lightning temple, it felt like I was doing the spirit temple from OoT, before going to the water temple I attempted to try and fight Ganondorf and ended up fighting the other 3 bosses, they were nowhere as enjoyable and difficult as Queen Gibdo, although he's right about the water temple, it's kinda disappointing because it's so quick and easy, there's no interesting puzzles to it and I was done with it in like 20-30 minutes

The fact that they made the Gorons meat addicted drug fiends is WILD.

I think the fire temple and the lightning temple are tied for first. I slightly prefer the fire temple just because it felt the most dungeony to me, or maybe it's just the aesthetics were a bit more exciting than the dark hallways of the lightning temple. Anyway, fire and lightning ruled. Thunderhead island and the spirit temple (which I consider one long dungeon) is in second place for me. I just thought getting the special zonai armor and going to the sky and then to the depths was a really cool overall mission that encompassed almost every fun facet of Totk. Getting to the wind temple and the wind temple boss was amazing, but the dungeon itself really sucked. And water temple was kinda cool to get to and the anti grav was exciting for a short while but other than that it was really lame and the water temple boss was a pain in the ass. Cool design though! Plus Sidon's ability is very disappointing compared to the others.

I’ve only done Wind/Fire/Spirit + just started Water. And I think they’re fine. Maybe they could be better, but I think the old idea of Zelda dungeons is very dated and often resulted in play through ending headaches. This new dungeon format is way more approachable, and I appreciate the scale and spectacle over meticulous dungeon crawling/long puzzle solving. Providing that to the playing in shorter bursts in the lead up to the dungeon, plus additional puzzles in shrines is a great compromise imo. Do we really wanna spend hours upon hours in one location in an open world game in 2023?

The wind temple is more of an extension to the four shrines on the great sky island since tulins ability basically does nothing at all, since the different abilities are so complicated its better if they try to get new players to a rather easy dungeon first so they understand the basics. The water temple was definitely the worst yes, mucktorock doesnt feel like a boss at all and rather a weaker molduga who makes you slow for some reason. the buildup is also the worst imo since it is just walking around not really doing anything, it doesnt feel like you are entering a shrine, rather doing the last side quests you forgot on your breath of the wild file. the dungeon itself is also super small, you can really feel the scale of everything else, the only real special thing about it is the low gravity which quickly can become annoying in combat as you showcased w the slow falling spear attack doing nothing. I really love how the lightning and fire temple look and how they really capture the "feeling" of that something was here but isnt anymore. The wind and water temple kinda just look alright, though i was really excited first seeing the stormwind ark and its atleast better than the water temple. I can agree that colgera LOOKS the coolest, but kind of falls back on how you fight it, you drain its hp so fast and even though its pretty cool and terrifying at first it kinda just looses the feeling of being scared since its basically impossible to get hit if you arent purposefully staying still. I also saw the Spirit Temple response in the comments and i agree about the story telling part, its the best of the "dungeons" (i count it as a dungeon) since the other ones are the same story with different voices. though i must say it probably has the worst reward of them all just considering its uses, the robot basically does nothing and just wastes parts. and the dungeon itself is not really that good, I kinda just had the same feeling as when I did the great plateau side adventure getting the eyes, the boss isnt that great either when its only block punch block. I really hope they buff the robot or ALTEAST make it so when you upgrade it with sage's will you get a better buff because as of now i see not a single use of it since its also so slow. (All i said was my opinion nothing you need to agree on)

They can defintely make similar dungeons, but just make them harder and unique. I also was hoping for a forest and shadow temple, maybe even throw in a great bay temple, so much missed potential there, but as a game this game is incredible lol

I love the fire temple simple because the satisfaction of me cheesing 99% of it's puzzles with my boy Tulin.

I honestly like this new direction of dungeons now, it was bad in botw because it was just kinda samey, only criticism for future games is to make them a bit longer and throw in a mini boss.

Fellow classic 3D Zelda fans I ask which pre-botw in your opinion has the best temples as I agree with the premise of this video and would like to consider starting one. The only one's I've played are OoT(Original&Master Quest) and Skyward Sword.

My biggest problem is that some of the Temples don't really feel like they're Temples, or whatever they're supposed to be. The worst offender is the Fire Temple IMO. It's supposed to be this Lost City of Gorondia, but it feels more like a giant blocky castle than anything.

Thank you. You're the first to say it... Two different groups!!! I loved the new direction they took Zelda with BotW but it was not at all a Zelda game... Only the characters were Zelda. TotK is a Zelda game and feels like a Zelda game but the dungeons are a joke and a slap in the face to us hardcore fans... Yet, I appreciate that they at least did something in the likes of a dungeon.

My personal ranking of the dungeons *spoilers below obviously you've been warned!* 1. Wind Temple (It was fun, forced me to think more than the other ones, and the boss fight was incredible even if easy) 2. Lightning Temple (The forced indoors was good, having locked doors and puzzles forcing me to get Riju along with me was good. Boss was a pain but fun) 3. Water Temple (Not much of a temple to be honest, was way too open in terms of being outside and stuff puzzles weren't bad, the build-up is what saves this from being in spots 4 or 5, boss was eh.) 4. Fire Temple (Mindcart puzzles SUCK! Just kidding but yeah I just climbed everywhere and ignored the puzzles when I got stuck. Yunobo doesn't really work like Riju so he just teleported to wherever I was if I skipped puzzles and needed him. Boss was a pain because of the ceiling phase.) 5. Spirit Temple. (It was stupid to call this a temple, we just put together [redacted] and went through a dumb walking phase honestly. Boss was fun even if too easy and seemed to be a big reference to Koloktos from SS) Actually on that last note, ALL of the bosses are some new incarnation of a previous boss or regular enemy at least. Mucktorok and Gohma are self explanatory, Gibdo queen is just a bigger Gibdo so again, self explained. Colgera is just Molgera but Cold, and the Seized Construct is very similar to Koloktos. Also the whole Wind Temple was just a big like, paying homage moment to Wind Waker. That was nice. But yeah I agree that these temples are a lot better than the Divine Beasts, at the same time definitely lacking still. Not to mention the sky feels kind of empty even with all of that crap floating in it. You can play the entire game and ignore the sky (minus 2 of the main dungeons and the starting area), which is just really unfortunate since a major appeal of this game is the new areas...but both the Sky and Depths feel empty. At least the Depths feature rematches of the dungeon bosses minus the Seized Construct...actually the Depths feel infinitely more useful than the Sky Islands to be honest...hmm...

A lot of these problems come from the overall direction that the modern Zelda’s go, for example instead of a wide enemy variety, they increased the flexibility and smartness of these few enemy types. That means that we don’t get a new roster of enemies in the new dungeons. Another thing is the overpowered arm abilities that are meant to help you explore, but in a dungeon setting they would be op, especially ascend, which is likely why these temples are all so big

Ah finally someone who agrees the water temple is horrible. Like ik people hate on the water temples but ive always liked them because they were complex and had interesting puzzles using water. However the water temple in totk was so quick and the puzzles were boring and had nothing to do with water like. I think they should have made the ancient zora waterworks the temple and have you go all over and unclog the pipes to get to the boss. I personally agree with your list as all the points you made i would make but i would switch the fire and wind temple just because i loved the mine cart puzzles and it made me think of which path should i take to get to each part. Amazing video btw

Great Video! I'm FCKN Loving this Game. For me it's a Masterpiece. And Yeah, maybe the Dungeons are not so Good like the Previous Zelda Games. but that doesn't mean that are bad, actually the dungeons are pretty good if i give a note to the dungeons in general it would be a solid 7.5 or 8/10, are fun. but nothing more.

i just love your videos man damn

The earth and wind temples from Windwaker were the best in my opinion. The mirror puzzles in particular are really memorable.

I was glad to have actual dungeons back, but i was disappointed with how they were so formulaic. There was such little buildup to the bosses in each one outside of the lightning temple

The water Temple buildup was my favorite. Solving the ancient riddle, finding the king hidden in a waterfall. Looking fro the droplet to shoot the arrow, and just swimming up to the sky islands was really fun. It has the best buildup, but i agree the temple itself was meh.

I might sound stupid saying this. But I enjoyed the Divine Beasts as “dungeons”. Since they all had the same methods to the boss, it wasn’t as annoying as learning the layout of a whole new dungeon map. The Blight battles also helped cement how powerful and massive a threat Calamity Ganon is compared to “hide in his cave” TotK Ganon They can be seen as parts of himself, meaning he effortlessly took down the Champions BY HIMSELF. The boss fights in TotK feel reused in one way or another. I legit believed the Fire Temple boss was going to be the one eyed scorpion thing. Also, why are Gibdo suddenly acting/treated like a hive mind of sand moths??

Hell yeah Wind Waker is the MF GOAT

Surprised you were more middling on the Fire Temple considering it did the Wind Waker thing with its companion that you wished the Lightning Temple did. Just navigating the temple requires use of Yunobo to change mine cart tracks and figuring out proper angles or ramps to get him to break open new areas. The most you use a companion in their temple in the game.

What form of the target town ost did I just here at the beginning there

They are just okay for me. I still think Twilight Princess has some of the best dungeon designs ever, but Stone Tower from Majoras Mask is my favorite dungeon ever.

i think the freedom of movement and the sheer amount of useful stuff you have at your disposal that helps in terms of mobility just limits the type of puzzles they could make in this game (and botw)

I imagine that the main reason these dungeons feel so underwhelming and why Nintendo is struggling so much with making them is because they don’t have any dungeon items that the dungeons can be built around. Whenever I think of a dungeon, I remember the unique item and the puzzles associated with it/them. Even with Link Between Worlds, when you start the dungeon with the item and aren’t getting it halfway through, the dungeons still felt super unique, well thought out, and complex. We got Sage abilities in this game, but they weren’t properly used for engaging puzzles the way other Zelda games use their items to build the dungeon.

I agree. I hope they add better and more dungeons/temples to the next Zelda game, retaining the open world style while making the storyline longer and even better, like Ocarina of Time, which had a LOT of temples.

I did the fire temple first, so I didn't have Tulin to cheese everything in there with mashing the A button after gliding, and it genuinely made it a lot more fun. On the flip side, I did the light(ning) temple last, but I think I did it as out of order as possible by ascending through the walls and trying to open up a path for Riju later. It was still fun and difficult, mainly because cheese is not possible. Also I'm a buffoon and forgot zonai devices exist and I could airbike my way through all of my problems.

Do the dungeons hinder the game from getting a 9 or are there other issues as well?

The zelda team wanted to go back to the roots of original zelda for nes but they forget that even though it had open world exploration, it also had well made classic dungeons