Zelda - Breath of the Wild 2 - Tears of the Kingdom

Considering it uses the same overworld as the original, it has been in development longer than the original, which says one of two things; Either this game has a ton more content compared to the original. Like an insane amount of extra mechanics, skills, objectives and such.

Or there is concurrently another Zelda game in development for a new platform.

I'd never even considered this, but I doubt that's the case tbh - otherwise surely they would have wanted to finish up TotK and get it out as soon as possible instead of this late into the Switch's lifespan.

I do think it's simply a case that the game ended up being larger in scope with more new ideas than they originally had planned, with maybe some issues in development around those new ideas and what they can realistically incorporate (including the potential return of dungeons and other things that fans were clamouring for) etc. Obviously covid played a part too with the delays, but following up on BotW was always going to be a massive task.

Edit: just realised I've ended up repeating what you said in the first part of your post anyway! Never mind.

That was an interesting sneak peak at TOTK. It looks like they have dived deeper into weapon durability and mixing and matching all sorts of crazy stuff to make an even more sophisticated sandbox. I haven't even remotely finished BOTW or beaten a single boss yet, so I should probably finish it first before even looking at TOTK.

My fears haven't been alleviated by that new gameplay footage. Way too much like BOTW 1.5 and the "nuts and bolts" mechanic does nothing for me as looks like too much fucking about.

Obviously will still get it and love it but disappointed nonetheless.

No getting away from it - same base game map sounds, after all these years waiting, very disappointing. All that new fiddling and crafting stuff is all well and good but hopefully isn’t as pointless as say Fallout 4s base building. All I really wanted was a completely new Zelda world to inhabit with even just the same abilities but it sounds like we are not getting even close to that here. Surely there is more to this than they are showing after all this time?

Think it is clear they are still holding a lot of cards to their chests. Quite happy with what they showed. I’m not the most imaginative either when it comes to creating things in games (not sure why as I’m
Quite creative outside games) but I got really absorbed by pretty much every aspect of botw so I’m all in.

That oled looks pretty sexy too.

It is just one aspect of the game they've shown off so far. They've teased so much more in the trailers with mines, overworld bosses, etc...

This does very much look like a sequel though. That is to say, it looks like it was made specifically for fans of Breath of the Wild. It might feel a bit overwhelming for anyone that hasn't played at least a chunk of that first.

Will also say that, until Breath of the Wild, I always prefered 2D Zelda to the 3D stuff.

Anyone else would be absolutely hammered for reusing a map no matter what was added

Especially as they put the price up too

Just watched the trailer.

Totally sold. Can't wait.

I will say, I'm excited, but I don't know if I'll enjoy this as much as the original. Time will tell, but having put 350 hours into the original, its gonna have to do a lot more than I would expect of most games.

They've done this before with Zelda - A Link Between Worlds pretty much reused the same map as A Link to the Past, and turned out to be a fantastic game in its own right with some neat twists to the existing game map (and the Zelda formula).

This seems to be doing something similar - they're obviously expanding on the sandbox gameplay/physics simulation aspect of the game, which was already pretty impressive in BotW. The whole "if you can think of something, you can do it" concept will be taken to the next level with all the fusing stuff, and I'm sure the new powers will be utilised well with some creative puzzling.

I'm still confident the game underneath will be pretty special too. It probably won't have the same impact overall as BotW, but still could end up being a better version of that game.

I think aside from the dock having an ethernet port, it should be exactly the same experience. The only major improvements are to handheld gameplay (not just with the screen, but also improved battery life).

I don’t really understand that. I’m actually thinking about starting it again to play through before 2 launches, partly because it’s great and party so that I can readily recognise the changes that the game brings.

My biggest worry was that we won't have the sense of discovery and wonder that a first time playthrough of BOTW brought with it, but the new mechanics shown today offer huge room for experimentation so that should help alleviate that worry.