I appreciate your patience as I worked on this analysis. There are some other things I may add later to this comment which I considered discussing in the video but chose to leave out. Have a great week
Has anyone taken notice of the fact that the aesthetics of the hud the map etc are exactly the same as the sheikah slate? Up to the icons that resemble shrines. How would link have a mini map like that without the slate and more so if it’s another form of tech for instance made by the zonai, why does it look exactly the same? Mentioned this a few times, but if not for the slate, how would we take pictures and fill the compendium for instance? I think after maybe a while, when we’re used to our new abilities, we have the possibility to visit purah or Robbie and perhaps gain our old runes/abilities back as well. Though I hoped for a collectible bomb bag through a fire dungeon or something similar. Also mentioned that it would be cool to see dodongos back in the Eldin region, posted this last week, what if, with crafting in mind, we encounter dodongos, after finishing them, they drop “dodongo hide/skin” and with the skin we can craft/enlarge our bomb bags? That to me would be very dope. Also maybe several sizes of the dodongos, from a normal one to a King Dodongo. We already have those paw prints right? Wouldn’t look weird if they have returned as well
I’ve noticed a lot of eye symbolism with artwork for TotK. This makes me think that the Zonai were a subsidiary from the Sheika, just like the Yiga. Also, this makes me think the Zonai might worship the reincarnation of the hero, like how the Sheika serve and worship Hylia and her reincarnations, and how the Yiga worship Ganon and serve him.
I think the sheikahs technology was built apon zonai orgins because you can hear a lot of sound similarities (it could also just be reusing assets lol)
As we have never had any hints that the Shiekah had split before the Yiga; I doubt this. Plus, it appears the Zonai worshipped an Owl, Dragon and Boar. So, it wouldn't be Link (or the chosen Hero). Another thing to note is that Hylia isn't the Goddess of Wisdom. Zelda just was the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom. It would be weird for the Princess to be worshipped. Even more so just a splinter group of Shiekah.
@@joesunday199 they don't really use the word "worship", but the Sheikah serve the royal family no matter the cost, because they're Hylia's blood decedents and bear her reincarnation, and they originally worshiped Hylia. serving the royal family as their guards and following their every command, and dedicating all their tech to the royal family and in the pursuit of their protection is an extension of their worship of Hylia. saying they "worship" Zelda is just a shorter way of expressing that. so yes, though it sounds weird, they do in fact "worship" Zelda, just in a more round about way. also, the owl/dragon/boar thing seemed to be more them depicting past historical events with animal imagery. the owl being Zelda/wisom, the boar being Ganon/power, and the dragon, their most common image, being Link/the hero/courage. so the idea that maybe they worship the hero just as the Yiga worship Ganon and the Sheikah worship Zelda isn't actually that far fetched. even so, you can remove the word worship and it could still be they dedicate their lives in pursuit of furthering the goals of the hero just as the Sheikah do the royal family and the Yiga Ganon's goals. it means the same thing.
@@Moon-Vixen There still isn't any evidence that there was a previous split in the Shiekah nor why such a split would happen. There also isn't a proper energy to represent Power. Malice wouldn't represent that as it is a corrupting force. Not something connected to Din. If the green energy is an energy based on souls what would the blue energy be?
My top 2 suggestions I haven't seen yet in any video: 1. the blue spottet shrooms might have to do with holding breath under water 2. while Aonuma states "there are multiple ways to get to the sky islands", the dragon is very prominent in the shot. My strong guess: we can ride the dragons to get up there
That first theory makes a ton of sense actually! I am really hoping for underwater exploration in this game as I felt it was a big thing missing from other Zelda games. With the ascend ability animation appear as a swimming animation, and the ascend icon appearing the second link went under the water makes me wonder if it really is something they implemented. Cannot wait for this game!
Although my First thought was that having Them on top of an Skyland was weird, I Just realized These Islands have lakes wirh Bars Bördering their Edge , so mabe we can Explorer those?😀
Something has to happen with the dragons. Riding does sound cool. If they're there just to farm materials like before, they shouldn't be so high off the ground.
what's also interesting is that the massive storm over hebra isn't there when link is skydiving meaning that dungeons/ events happen and appear at different times which could also mean that certain events that the player does have consequences and cause reactions to happen in the overworld, it also could be connected to the towers, where islands only appear if you've 'unlocked' it with the tower similar to how the shrines gained power through the towers.
I think we can expect a much more dynamic Hyrule this time around. Considering the literally dynamic game engine, dynamics was always a major theme within BotW. And I think TotK is gonna triple down on this with not only more dynamic use of physical objects, but a more macro-scale interaction with Hyrule. I think we're going to witness the map change as we play.
@@Graphomite I'm sort of imagining tarry town size changes to all over the map in hopes to rebuild hyrule and calamity ganon events that can become more dangerous the more time you don't deal with it
Indications that more abilities are coming are: 1. After Utrahand Aonouma says "... there ARE MORE abilitIES", but he only shows 1 more (Ascend) 2. Fuse, Ascend and Ultrahand both have a symbol that represents the ability, while Recall is some Kanji sort of thing. 3. Fuse, Ascend and Ultrahand seem to be done by the arm itself, while Recall is done by the glowing Kanji on Link's hand. 4. The Glider (the one Link stands on in another Trailer) also has a symbol similar to Fuse, Ascend and Ultrahand, implying it also is a ability And where is the 3 headed Dragon when Link is skydiving?
Something that I thought peculiar was when Aonuma is demonstrating the ascend ability he gives a very specific example of "If you're stuck in a cage, you know what to do right?" making me think that MAYBE there's some sort of event where Link gets captured in game!
I commented the same thing on Zeltik’s analysis: The bigger sky island he showed us was 100% the tutorial area. The ultrahand stuff near the lake is laid out perfectly, it’s the only place with the map unlocked, he has 4 hearts and low level stuff so he probably just finished the tutorial, and everything there is low level. It also has the same arch thing at the entrance to the snowy area, just like at mt hylia in botw
13:38 Here's an idea: Those "vials" on the hip are not vials, they're energy coils. Link has a total capacity of 8 of the battery packs, however each battery pack contains 5 coils, equaling 40 total coils. I'd presume that the new shrines, which are clearly the "Swirl" peak buildings we see that are double the size of Link (Link for Scale when nearly next to one riding up the fractured rock to get to the Golden Land), we likely have a choice when completing these. A certain amount can go toward either a heart container, stamina wheel (Potentially?) or the energy coils. That would provide the means of limiting the players traversal and ability to progress further than expected in the traditional methods. Which leaves the potential of bombs, which likely will still return, being used more like a classic Zelda counterpart for speed running strats (personally).
I'm curious to know if they've fixed botw exploits for totk. More importantly what kind of crazy new strategies get discovered well beyond the life expectancy of the game & most importantly, the LORE! I hope we got much more history & deeper lore into the series.
Yeah that would be a nice twist, since everyone that is "in the know" will think they hold tears like in previous Zelda titles. And given the name of the game. I can definitely see Nintendo trolling us like that!
I think Robbie and Purah will make their own network of observation towers, and that's why the map is different. I also think that scene from one of the trailers (Link's in a room, and robotic arms pop out, startling him) is Robbie and/or Purah's doing.
I'm genuinely glad that your interpretation of Fuse is more tempered than most others' that I've heard. So many people imply near infinite fusion when it's more likely to just be a 2 or 3 item limit (maybe 4, but not likely). Even that much is still really exciting from the possibilities.
Yeah, it was most likely just to replace the fusion with the current one. But if it could be at least 3, that would be even better. I guess at least it would be a good way to "refresh" the durability either way.
I expect different combinations will have different amounts of possible fusions... I imagine a fusion tree.. so certain paths may lead to more possibilities than other branches. For example I would say it's not unreasonable to expect to be able to add an elemental with fire jelly to an already fused weapon.. like the boulder stick for example... Making three total fusions, where as fusing a keese wing to a keese eyeball and creating a pet keese that attacks enemies for you would be a single fusion with no more possible outcomes.. etc... It's also worth noting that as of yet we don't know if fusions can take place in the inventory, for example, can we craft bombs with materials within the inventory menu, and then can we fuse the bomb we crafted onto arrows that we crafted..
I am sure the coordinates will be present in the final game. There is no upside to exposing any developer UX in this demo. The coordinates will for sure play a role in a bunch of different quests and puzzles. Great video!
There's also no downside in showing dev UI, so why does that matter? I don't mind either way, but it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't in the game. Also there are parts where you can barely even read the coords because of the colour of the map, which I don't think Nintendo would like presenting to players, but who knows.
@@lordofthe6string the downside is confusion for no reason! I’m already thinking about how cool it would be to find something inaccessible on the overworld map and then go to that exact coordinate underground to ascend up to it. Huge gameplay potential. Also the way it’s built into the minimap seems way more designed and considered than what a dev interface typically will look like (e.g. simple overlay with no type treatment, not built into the GUI like it is here. To me, I don’t think there’s a question this will be in the final game.
@@NintendoBlackCrisis There could be a Zonai geocaching mechanic throughout Hyrule. Secret gear or treasures literally "buried in the past" that could be revealed by having Link use Recall at some specific coordinates he has discovered.
The minimap also only shows horizontal directions, having at least the Z/Y coordinate can help orient how high up you are. And if you are gonna show one you might as well show all three
It looks like u r hitting an enemy with a meatball on a stick. That’s a baby weapon. and not only that Nintendo was too lazy to design weopons so they left it up to the user to make their own . So user is left to fight enemies with long garden hoes and a meatball on a stick. How lame. uOnce again It looks like Nintendo released another game for babies. I thought they would learn from elden ring or the dark souls games to make a game for adults. Instead they chose Sesame Street with Link and Mario being Bert and Ernie. I’ll pass on this trash
I think the coordinates actually will be in the final game. Not only because Aounuma said development was done but also I can see them being highly beneficial while exploring underground to keep track of the positions of different objects and locations on the surface. Same for the sky islands. Even if we can’t see what’s below us we can know based on our coordinate location.
21:50 The new dragon looks white with a yellow mane which would match the trees on the Skylands so I'm gonna call that the new dragon is the protector of the Skylands the way the old dragons protected the springs in BotW. Interestingly, the new dragon looks like it has a spotty mane that almost looks like it's just a bunch of small bushes and a tail with Luminous Stone ore deposits. That last idea might be a stretch but how cool would a one-with-nature dragon be?
I have many ideas about the dragon, but I don’t know or think any of them are credible. First this new dragon is definitely the ones the Zonai worshipped the most. It’s guarding their land and was only brought back when their technology came back showing some level of connection. Also I don’t think any other records of its existence is shown. Next the other three dragons are named after the three lesser goddesses. I don’t think this fourth dragon would be named after Hylia as it’s the same size as the others and the Zonai religion seems to be different from the Hylian meaning if they were to name it it probably wouldn’t deal with Hyrule’s goddess as no Hylian or records mention the fourth. So the fourth dragon could be named after a new god as we have seen other religions like in Termina. Finally I have the most insane idea on what the dragon could be that disregards the whole god thing. So we know from Twilight Princess that previous Links can become spirits to guide future heroes. We also know from several creatures like the owl in Ocarina and the lord of Satoru mountain in Botw reincarnation is something possible as sages have done it. I believe just due to the yellow mane and the fact Link is tied to the goddess and triforce that he reincarnated into that dragon. For what purpose I have no idea. I just think it would be cool for them to expand on that idea seeing as reincarnation is a thing Zelda shows us from time to time and if the green energy of the Zonai is linked to spirits that could be why Link was able to become a dragon.
@@anthonynguyen1289 Another idea: this is the "true form" of one of the dragons we've met before. Maybe story events cause them to power up and take on new forms?
An interesting detail regarding the green spiral shrine things: Recall makes the world black & white and shows time going backwards through moving "shadows" of the object that are in full color. The shrine thing on dueling peaks has the green spiral while Link is just riding around, and while he has Recall active on the rock, but the green spiral disappears when the full color "shadows" go by it. I doubt this has any meaning, but an interesting observation, nonetheless.
Really waited for days for a video game made for babies? Once again It looks like Nintendo released another game for babies. I thought they would learn from elden ring or the dark souls games to make a game for adults. Instead they chose Sesame Street with Link and Mario being Bert and Ernie. I’ll pass on this trash.
2:35 Since he is drawing the sword in this scene, and the symbol on his arm already glowing, I thought this could be way later in the game. A way Recall is used to rewind the damage on the Master Sword.
He's probably just trying to fix it but it doesn't work. I mean, if I was in his position, that would be the first thing I try if I had the ability. But based on the title art, the master sword is going to look different at the end of the game.
30:00 -ish? Theory: We don't have to raise towers to get the map, We have to drop them down from the Skylands. Then that'd explain why one would seem to vanish, the player just hadn't been to the right Skyland yet. It'd make sense cuz most of the towers in Botw have a mini-puzzle to get to them (the Mud-Pit, the Ring of Ice, Fallen Fort of Malice) so making a player 'do' a Skyland to get the tower to the ground and read the land for you achieves the same goal.
i had a similar thought as well. we still don't know where the sky islands come from, maybe they descended from space or something and we have to "call" the towers down to the ground. It would be some nice contrast as ganon/malice seems to be associated with rising up from underground and the sky islands are the opposite of that, descending from the sky to counter ganon
Its possible that the zonai are actually another sheikah subfaction from long ago that branched off from the main clan similar to what the yiga did 100 years prior. It probably explains why the zonai charge is similar in design to the ancient gears from the previous game and why we see the mysterious sheikah eye symbol on Link's shield as well as other artifacts from recent trailers. Like Zelda theorists mentioned before, everytime a new sheikah symbol is introduced, it usually refers to a clan that is separate from the main group that represent one of the three triforces. It's possible that this sheikah group represents the triforces of courage like how the yiga and kakariko represent the triforces of power and wisdom respectively
Your content is unmatched. Love some of you Zeldatubers that go out of your way to connect lore and gameplay. You were right all this time about the Zonai stuff. To me your theories were so well grounded that I wasn’t a surprised by the “Zonai Charge” even a bit. Congratulations
I like the new category analysis thing, you don’t have to spoil anything by showing a part of the footage that happens later or say “we will see this later”, it definitely keeps things less complicated and I love it
The building marked by a store icon on the mini map reminds me of the Timeshift stones found in Skyward Sword, especially because it seems to be encircled by broken down rails, like the mine systems in the Skyward Lanayru region.
i felt so happy for you and your hard work when zonai charge showed up on the screen, after the hard work put on the documentary this was like driking water for the first time after decades.
One thing I'm interested to see is what they do with the Great Plateau. Despite it being a tutorial area for BoTW, it isn't accessible aside from fast travel until you have late game stamina. Either they'll make some easy way to get up there, like a cave to ascend through (which would be kinda lame but seems likely) or more interestingly, the Great Plateau might become like a late-game area, which I'm down to see.
@@ashwilliams3859 no botw is my favorite zelda game. I’ve played thru it multiple time on normal and master mode. I’m just bored of botw and I can’t wait for totk. I’m actually going to preorder it soon
I just realized that if you are in the underground caverns, doesn't that mean you can just phase through the top of the cave to escape it to get to over world Hyrule. 🤔
When you were talking about recall being used on the master sword I thought that maybe there is a possibility when we drop our weapons we can use recall on them.
22:31 Something I just noticed while watching this is that the yellow icon meant to represent Link on the minimap tracks that light blue line near perfectly once he's on the road next to Dueling Peaks Stable. I believe that blue line is meant to be the road, and if so, that could mean the regions have been reworked so that way their borders coincide with the roads of Hyrule, or at least the main roads that horses automatically follow
About Recall being used for combat - I can imagine a fight sequence where, whilst link is fighting a boss, a projectile is launched, say from a cannon. Link then has to wait for the boss to move into the firing line of the cannon and then use recall to fire the object back towards the cannon and through the boss, causing the boss to take damage.
I believe the purpose of the altar like buildings is to actually let you phase into / access them from the surface. On the demonstration some have a missing chunk at their bottom while others have that spiraling pointy ending instead.
Not only were your theories correct, I believe that your videos were an integral part in the actual development of the zonai lore and so much more being in this game.
He was wrong about the lomei labyrinth not being made by the Zonai, and 0:41 supports my theory that the Zonai labyrinths fell from the sky and were not emulated by the sheikah. Zonai disappear into Xanadu and their cube islands crash into Gerudo, Akkala and Hebra regions the Zonai labyrinths are developed when the Zonai were not barbarians
7:30 Notice though that the Korok Frond is identified as a "health" item, as opposed to the Chu Jelly which has no heart indicator. This makes me think it may not have any direct attack component, but perhaps more of an assist component?
I just had a thought ( and maybe something for a future video). Remember a couple trailers ago, we saw that giant green robot forming? What if the "constructs" have the ability to fuse? Eiji Aonuma himself said that the Constructs will eventually come at Link with fused weapons. What if they can fuse themselves together or have a "Fuser" type to put them together to fight Link. We saw Link fusing a boat together and Eiji Aonuma said the possibilities are endless. The giant green robot did look like he was being fused.If Link can do it,why not the enemies too. What do you think?
I personally think, the vials are for completing the Shrines that we see, when we complete one, we get the vial filled that's why the green disappears around the Shrine. We will then "spend" these to get extra hearts/stamina. not sure of the reason why we can only hold 8 at a time but that's my current theory.
Yeah, Aonuma is definitively using different save files to mask elements of the game. Nintendo did something similar with BotW, after all. Most of the footage shown then took place on the Great Plateau, yet a lot of it had Link wearing the Champion's Tunic. So it's possible that Aonuma is returning to the early areas with items or abilities we don't get until a few hours in.
The Recal-ability gives me some OoT-lens of truth-vibes: at any place, it could possible that something can be rewind so a path gets unblocked for example, love it!
I'm willing to bet Maze and I have the same idea, that the phials are the battery meter, acting as a wireless power source for green machine parts. Maybe dungeons/puzzles will have unique pieces that must be powered too.
2 different types of ability (like BotW) we have "Runes" which is what Recall is. The symbol being based on the kanji for "time" the rune abilities are a yellow power that comes from Links hand. The other abilities we have seen so far are not runes. They are Links arm abilities and their power is blue/green. There are 2 distinct different sets of powers. The Kanji like symbols define the runes. We will most probably get 4 of each for a total of 8 just like BotW. It seems like the 4 rune powers we will get are based on the kanji for Time (recall) Sight (maybe a sight beyond sight ability or just another camera?) Wind and Construction. That's what the kanji icons shown off so far seem to be pointing at.
The coordinates system could be for puzzles/quests that require action both in the sky and on the ground. It could also be used to figure out which part of the sky islands you'd be going to when using Ascend or Recall. I can imagine encountering an impassible obstacle in the sky and then going down to the ground to try and find a spot for Ascend or Recall on the other side of that obstacle.
i mentioned it in the discord but the weird flower thingy with the purple cloud seems to be a closed fairy fountain. shape and color match. also pretty sure the lines on the new maps are pathways. they fit
You did an amazing job with this video. Not only was it incredibly entertaining and exciting to watch at the time, but pretty much everything you were confident about, you were right with, and there were very few things you speculated that were wrong.
@enadoll what if the stambulb isn't something you put in your inventory but instead immediately restores your stamina upon pickup like Skyward Sword's stamina fruit
@enadoll at the very least it will have some sort of stamina effect. Hopefully something unique because we already have multiple stamina restoring ingredients. In another comment someone said that the new blue mushroom could be for effects that help link hold his breath underwater for longer, if there is actual underwater exploration
That was a sweet ass analysis. Made this Yi-guy even more pumped for the game. It’s gonna be hard to not check out your channel too often once the game is out.
A great analysis that was well worth the wait. Your reaction to "Zonai Charge" was amazing, and can't wait to see more mentioning on the "Zonai" throughout the game.
There’s not many yellow trees on the surface, but there seem to be some, as I remember seeing one on top of some rock (possibly floating island debris) in the overworld near the Dueling Peaks and the Dueling Peaks Stable
Ain't there some where the "Sage" can be found? That strange looking horse? I know there are lots of Sakura Trees there but I think there is one as well.
He told us that there wouldn't be many yellow trees on the ground, he did this to make us search for and explore areas with yellow trees on the ground. If we come across it, it's probably sky islands that has either fallen or not risen yet.
I know I am late to this, but I did notice one more detail that is extremely hard to miss: When Aonuma first attaches the logs you can VERY faintly see small dots appear on the models of the trees, which is what they align themselves to when being glued together. It looks like you will not have 100% freedom in attaching things, but there seem to be a lot of snapping points defined for each physical object you can use Ultrahand on. So damn excited, ten more days...
When you are playing the skyward sword music at the beginning of the video I was thinking … “wow this music sounds really nice with the TotK footage” and it made me excited for the new music in this game!
I have watched every totk gameplay analysis thus far and yours is BY FAR the best. Incredible detail and dedication. Thx for the great content. Keep it up!!
24:00 those wood planks were obviously meant to rebuild Hyrule. but in gameplay they will be sources of vehicle foundations. "base building" COULD be in totk but I'm not expecting it to be the case with how much content and development would go into Fuse and Ultra hand just in and of themselves.
So, it looks like we may be able to rebuild certain parts of Hyrule and that many of the ruins in the first game may either be turned into new settlements or cleared away. I don't think we're getting a full fledged castle town unfortunately, but a bigger main town may be available which would be cool. And it looks like they added more stables. Also is anyone gonna talk about what's happening on Death Mountain?
The Korok Forest and Deku Tree missing because of Gandondorf makes sense because if he attacked and destroyed the Master Sword, that's where it was placed after the calamity to repair itself. He'd be removing another obstacle for himself by eliminating the ability to repair the sword there again.
I'm not completely sure, but I found that the lines on the minimap for the surface section matched up really well with the paths in that area, only lacking the path and bridge to Kakariko Village. That may indicate that Link's map is filled out as he traverses Hyrule, making sense as he no longer has the Sheikah Slate. Another tidbit of evidence backing that theory up is that you can see lakes and rivers on the map, simply dark and shaded out, almost blending in with the background.
Brilliant video. Thank you so much for taking the time to produce this. I learned so much. So much more than when I simply watched the 10-minute presentation. The game is going to be incredible. 🙏🏻👌
Great analysis. I'm still convinced that: - The vials Link carries at the hip will allow us to store vehicles/structures we build - Puzzles will include us moving the sky islands around, to either build bigger ones or access new ones - There will be some kind of gravity shenanigans that'll make the "Ascend" ability more interesting in puzzles (because it seems like its usage would be very limited just based on what we've seen).
16:13 I don't think so, somehow. Nothing we've seen so far hints at underwater exploration. I think the water surface counts as a ceiling just so the Ascend ability works anywhere, even if you happen to be underground under a lake or something. But we'll see
I think another limiting factor for limitlessly flying to whatever island you want is that the propellers suddenly had a huge drain when the boat started hovering above the water. That says to mean that you'd have to have some other way to lift up into the air, and then propellers to move horizontally. Then THOSE materials can then be limited.
23:10 So, I can think of a game that used the X-Y coordinates for quests or side activities. In Final Fantasy 10, some locations can only be found if you input the x and y coordinates found on an Al Bhed sphere into something in the Airship menu.
It looks like u r hitting an enemy with a meatball on a stick. That’s a baby weapon. and not only that Nintendo was too lazy to design weopons so they left it up to the user to make their own . So user is left to fight enemies with long garden hoes and a meatball in a stick. How lame. uOnce again It looks like Nintendo released another game for babies. I thought they would learn from elden ring or the dark souls games to make a game for adults. Instead they chose Sesame Street with Link and Mario being Bert and Ernie. I’ll pass on this trash
@@Mynipplesmychoice it literally is supposed to be a baby weapon though, you're mixing two super weak items. Programing a combination for each and every possible combination takes infinitely more effort than just adding a couple new weapons, if u dont like it thats cool its not for everyone but like. chill out man
The new produce shown at 6:32 next to the hylian herbs and korok leaf, that looks like a leak, is in fact not one at all. It's a fused vegetable. It's a combination of leek and a garlic head, forming a 'garleek'. I think all the new edibles Link will encounter on the sky islands, will be constructs of already existing foods. Like, combining grapes and apples will give you a hybrid cluster of, shall we say, 'graplles'. This means whole new types of materials to discover! This possibility has gotten me curious!
