Legend of Zelda Breath of the wild discussion thread

[Abserdia]

Or longer. However, there's also the problem of Lon Lon Ranch. In BotW, you can find a location named "Ranch Ruins" that is pretty much just a shot for shot copy of Lon Lon Ranch, but destroyed and rotted.
There's no way that would still be recognizable after thousands of years, especially if it was underwater for most of that time.

So, what else is from various games, besides the tribes?
Like landmarks/locations?
Besides the obvious.

From the top of my head:
Ruto Lake (or maybe it's bridge?)
Saria Lake
Mido Swamp
Linebeck Island
And a huge statue of Hylia that looks very similar to the one in Skyward Sword.

The last one isn't identical to the statue in Skyloft, but it's still a pretty cool landmark. I won't tell you where it is though.

Also, I heard that there's a knighting scene?
Cool.

That's a memory you can unlock after you get to a certain point in the main quest. The memories are like cutscenes that you have to collect.
I used a line from that cutscene in that earlier post with the spoiler.

[Esmerel]

It could take place far after ST.

Like...400 years afterwards?

Maybe everything collapsed or something...

(I have not played BotW yet so I might just be going on tangents here)

Just thought I'd chime in that early cutscenes in the game states that it takes place at least TEN THOUSAND YEARS after the events of any other game. There's plenty of time for a lot of things to change.

[Skylus]

Like...400 years afterwards?

Maybe everything collapsed or something...

(I have not played BotW yet so I might just be going on tangents here)

Just thought I'd chime in that early cutscenes in the game states that it takes place at least TEN THOUSAND YEARS after the events of any other game. There's plenty of time for a lot of things to change.

...WHAT?

...Guess that explains the technology, then...

[Mundeo]

Just thought I'd chime in that early cutscenes in the game states that it takes place at least TEN THOUSAND YEARS after the events of any other game. There's plenty of time for a lot of things to change.

...WHAT?

...Guess that explains the technology, then...

But the technology was made those ten thousand years ago...

I think BotW took the timline and just tossed it out the window.

[Skylus]

...WHAT?

...Guess that explains the technology, then...

But the technology was made those ten thousand years ago...

I think BotW took the timline and just tossed it out the window.

...So do I...

[Skylus]

So...Voice Acting...

Does Ganon talk at all?

[Reploid Productions]

*scoots to grab her copy of Hyrule Historia* Prepare for massive nerdy overthinking.

As for timelines, my current theory is that BotW is in its OWN timeline, splintered off the time travel shenanigans in Skyward Sword, not the timeline split caused by Ocarina of Time. From the canon timeline, we know OoT caused a three-way timeline split (Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, and the original Four Swords are placed before the split):

1. The "bad ending" timeline where Link is defeated in OoT, leading to the timeline containing A Link to the Past, the Oracle games, Link's Awakening (probably A Link Between Worlds somewhere after that, Historia was released before that game so it's not listed,) followed by the original LoZ and then The Adventure of Link.
2. The "child" timeline, where Link is returned after he beat Ganondorf, leading to the timeline containing Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures. In this timeline, Ganondorf is thwarted and executed/banished to the Twilight Realm, setting the stage for his later return in TP.
3. The "adult" timeline, that Link disappears from after defeating Ganondorf since he's sent back to the second timeline, leading to Ganondorf's eventual return, Hyrule being flooded and sealed, eventually leading to Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks. (Triforce Heroes might also sit in this timeline, like ALBW, Historia's timeline was out before that game.)

By similar logic, there should be multiple timelines spawned off the time travel antics in Skyward Sword, which my theory are as follows:

1. The "main" Skyward Sword story timeline where Link obtains the Triforce, and Demise is completely destroyed before he can be revived. Zelda is rescued and brought back after Ghirahim takes her through the time gate. Note that in this timeline, Demise never got a chance to utter his dying curse, though Link and Zelda were both there when he uttered it in timeline #3 below.
2. A "bad ending" timeline where Link is defeated by Demise when he chases Ghirahim through the time gate back to the distant past. Presumably in this timeline, with Demise revived long before Link is even born, Demise rallies his demons and resumes his war, without Hylia or the hero to get in his way.
3. A "good ending" timeline where Link defeats Demise when he chases Ghirahim through the time gate back to the distant past. Demise utters his dying curse in this timeline, and the dregs of his power are sealed up within the Master Sword here. After Link and Zelda return through the time gate to timeline #1, the surface world in this timeline is able to recover from the war between Hylia and Demise much faster than it has in timeline #1, possibly allowing for the sky folk to resettle the surface far earlier. This also leads to a timeline where the goddess Hylia is still remembered by name and worshipped by the people.

My theory is that Ocarina of Time and its timeline branches are off either #1 or #3 of the above scenario (probably #1), and that Breath of the Wild is a new timeline off the other (probably #3, because worship of Hylia is still very much in abundance, whereas by OoT worship seems to have shifted to the big three, with only vague references to a goddess of time) There's a side quest in Zora's Domain that pretty clearly indicates that events of Ocarina of Time (or something similar, at any rate) occurred more than 10,000 years prior to events of BotW. So I'm thinking that in this new timeline, there were past events that parallel events of Ocarina of Time (and given the reference to Twilight others in the thread have already pointed out, possibly Twilight Princess as well.) The magitech of the Divine Beasts and the Guardians bears sufficient similarity to the advanced magitech from the desert in Skyward Sword, so maybe the ancient technology was recovered since the surface was resettled way earlier than the original timeline, leading to the creation of the towers, Beasts, and so on to thwart Demise's curse. 10,000 years is plenty of time for an advanced magitech civilization to fall and for records and information to become lost or distorted. After all, what we do see in flashbacks to 100 years ago is that these relics were only recently rediscovered, and pre-Calamity Hyrule was still largely in that fantasy medieval state typical of the games.

Keep in mind, of course, that my speculation is from a position of not yet having beaten the game. I still have one Divine Beast to go, and have no fething clue who or what Calamity Ganon is going to be like. I'm sure I'll need to revise my speculation once I get that far.

EDIT TO ADD: Oh my fucking god there's a SILVER fucking Lynel too?! x_x Killed the bastard, though!

[Abserdia]

*snip*

That sounds a bit too hard to believe. I thought about it some more, and my favorite theory is that it branches off after Twilight Princess into its own world more similar to the Adult Era timeline.

The theory you have is just way too convenient to be true. There's no way that OoT and TP didn't actually happen.

[Skylus]

Aren't ALL the games referenced, though?

[Abserdia]

Aren't ALL the games referenced, though?

Maybe there's some minor references here and there for some laughs, but I'm talking about a cutscene that's probably the most important one for placing BotW anywhere in the timeline, considering the fact that it threw a knuckleball at everyone trying to piece it all together.

[Skylus]

Aren't ALL the games referenced, though?

Maybe there's some minor references here and there for some laughs, but I'm talking about a cutscene that's probably the most important one for placing BotW anywhere in the timeline, considering the fact that it threw a knuckleball at everyone trying to piece it all together.

...This is interesting...what's the cutscene?

[Abserdia]

Maybe there's some minor references here and there for some laughs, but I'm talking about a cutscene that's probably the most important one for placing BotW anywhere in the timeline, considering the fact that it threw a knuckleball at everyone trying to piece it all together.

...This is interesting...what's the cutscene?

Memory 1. I mentioned this scene earlier, because it just confuses me to no end.
It mentions the "glowing embers of Twilight" in the same shot with a FREAKIN' BIRD MAN.

Although, in TP there's a small mural that shows what appears to be Rito...

Uggggh. Why can't this make sense?

[Skylus]

....Those ARE Rito.

It's official.

There is no exact timeline, I think.

[Skylus]

Another thing

Do you have to "reforge" the Master Sword or not?

Cause I think that even it can break...

[Mundeo]

Another thing

Do you have to "reforge" the Master Sword or not?

Cause I think that even it can break...

After using it for enough time, it becomes inactive and it has to recharge before you can use it again.

I'm not sure if the same follows for the Hylian Shield... I think it just breaks after enough uses.

[Abserdia]

....Those ARE Rito.

It's official.

There is no exact timeline, I think.

Yeah there is. There's 3.
Look it up, dude.

[Skylus]

Another thing

Do you have to "reforge" the Master Sword or not?

Cause I think that even it can break...

After using it for enough time, it becomes inactive and it has to recharge before you can use it again.

I'm not sure if the same follows for the Hylian Shield... I think it just breaks after enough uses.

Yeah, that's cool.

[Reploid Productions]

*snip*

That sounds a bit too hard to believe. I thought about it some more, and my favorite theory is that it branches off after Twilight Princess into its own world more similar to the Adult Era timeline.

The theory you have is just way too convenient to be true. There's no way that OoT and TP didn't actually happen.

We don't know that for certain though. In BotW, all we know for sure is that there was SOMETHING involving the Twilight Realm that happened at some distant point in the past, we don't specifically know if it was Ganon; could just as easily be a war with those evil magic users that got banished to Twilight, could be an attempted invasion from the Twilight. Likewise with OoT, all we know for certain in BotW is that allegedly "Calamity Ganon once took the form a Gerudo", and that well north of 10,000 years ago (and long enough ago that the name Ganondorf isn't even known anymore) a malicious person made a grab for the Triforce and was stopped by the sages.

It could specifically be the events of OoT and TP, but it could just as easily be distinctive and different versions of those events. Back in Skyward Sword, Demise cursed Link and Zelda with his dying breath, that his malice would continue to dog the pair's descendants/reincarnations/whatever through the ages... and "Calamity Ganon" is portrayed not so much as an intelligent, thinking being (at least so far, again, haven't actually beat the game nor seen what the final boss is like!) and more of a pure malevolent primal force... in a way, kinda like Demise's power prior to his revival every time the Imprisoned reared its ugly head.

If it's not off in its own timeline though, my second guess would be the distant future of the timeline with Twilight Princess, mainly because of the reference to Twilight in that memory clip.

[Skylus]

Then how would you explain everything else that's from the other two timelines being in BotW?

[Abserdia]

So I finally got around to The Lost Woods. I think I figured it out kind of easily, unless I just got super lucky on my third try.

Didn't have enough hearts to pull out the Master Sword, but I did finish the trials. The only one that gave me trouble was the Test of Wood.

Ah jeez, that name was completely intentional. There's no way it wasn't.

I also explored the northwestern most region without an actual map. That was pretty fun. I found a quaint little cabin and a nice snowboarding spot.

[Reploid Productions]

So I finally got around to The Lost Woods. I think I figured it out kind of easily, unless I just got super lucky on my third try.

Didn't have enough hearts to pull out the Master Sword, but I did finish the trials. The only one that gave me trouble was the Test of Wood.

Ah jeez, that name was completely intentional. There's no way it wasn't.

I also explored the northwestern most region without an actual map. That was pretty fun. I found a quaint little cabin and a nice snowboarding spot.

I actually got through the Lost Woods in my first shot. Clever trick to navigating it, but I can see why it could stump people.

And yeah, I giggled way more than necessary at the Test of Wood. Thank everything for infinite bombs, s'all I'm saying about the difficulty.

Just completed my map the other day, I still need to go after the last Divine Beast, but I may get sidetracked shrine hunting. Completed 104 of the buggers, well on my way to finding all the damn things, fuck using walkthroughs or guides! Maxed out my bow inventory space, too. Probably relatively close to maxing out shields and weapons. While I'd love to hunt down all the Korok seeds without help, if its true that there's 900 of the damn things, I may have to give up and look up a guide for that.

Also, coming to really love Lynel bows. Those things are great for piling on the damage, especially the ones the white-maned and silvers drop.

[Skylus]

...So...I got my hands on a copy.

AT LONG LAST!

Last copy of the Wii U version and the game guide- Am I lucky?

maybe.

Going to have to finish up Okami first, PLUS wait for...two hours of the update thing?

[Mundeo]

So I finally got around to The Lost Woods. I think I figured it out kind of easily, unless I just got super lucky on my third try.

Didn't have enough hearts to pull out the Master Sword, but I did finish the trials. The only one that gave me trouble was the Test of Wood.

Ah jeez, that name was completely intentional. There's no way it wasn't.

I also explored the northwestern most region without an actual map. That was pretty fun. I found a quaint little cabin and a nice snowboarding spot.

I actually got through the Lost Woods in my first shot. Clever trick to navigating it, but I can see why it could stump people.

And yeah, I giggled way more than necessary at the Test of Wood. Thank everything for infinite bombs, s'all I'm saying about the difficulty.

Just completed my map the other day, I still need to go after the last Divine Beast, but I may get sidetracked shrine hunting. Completed 104 of the buggers, well on my way to finding all the damn things, fuck using walkthroughs or guides! Maxed out my bow inventory space, too. Probably relatively close to maxing out shields and weapons. While I'd love to hunt down all the Korok seeds without help, if its true that there's 900 of the damn things, I may have to give up and look up a guide for that.

Also, coming to really love Lynel bows. Those things are great for piling on the damage, especially the ones the white-maned and silvers drop.

The first two Korok trials weren't that bad for me. The Lost Pilgrimage can go burn in the fires of Death Mountain, though.

[Skylus]

First day:

Died I think 5 times

(Curse you Guardians/blue Bokomoblins!)

Got to Kakariko

spent I think 5 HOURS trying to kill a boar to get the (...I can't believe I forgot the name...)
ALSO

10,000 YEARS?!
So, I did some calculations-
If there's 4 generations per 100 years, then, if I'm correct, there has been 4,000 generations since 10,000 years ago.

[Abserdia]

After spending a lot more time with BotW, I'm bumping my score down from a perfect 10 to 9.
It does have a lot of flaws, and I wish the fandom wouldn't kill you just for talking about them.