Getting The Grasp Sword In Tears Of The Kingdom Is Zelda At Its Greatest

Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on sizzling matters and random stuff they have been chewing over. At present, Jim gushes over the second you retrieve the legendary sword within the latest Zelda recreation…

There have been a number of moments in my playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom the place I’d put the controller down, convey my arms to my head, and sit beaming on the display screen. The opening dive to the Nice Sky Island because the title seems; the music throughout the Wind Temple boss struggle; the primary time I bypassed a puzzle by strapping two rockets to a plank of wooden and despatched Hyperlink rag-dolling in the direction of his purpose.

None of those, nevertheless, got here near the second while you retrieve the Grasp Sword.

I’ve been hesitant to match up Tears of the Kingdom in opposition to the Zelda video games that precede it (it’s nonetheless very new, in any case), however, having watched Hyperlink get his arms on the legendary blade, I had completely little question that this was one in all my very favorite moments in your complete collection.

Earlier than I dive into why I have never been in a position to get the sequence out of my head for the previous two months, let’s first lay out an enormous previous spoiler warning. I’m going to be diving into an entire lot of particulars relating to Tears of the Kingdom’s story. Should you nonetheless are but to search out the Grasp Sword within the recreation, then you are going to wish to flip again now and do it for your self first. Belief us, there’s nothing fairly like experiencing it spoiler-free…

I might left discovering the Grasp Sword till an excellent 50 hours into my playtime. I completed the 4 Regional Phenomena quests and, secure within the assumption that I’d be heading off to Hyrule Fortress to struggle Ganondorf instantly afterwards (how naive I used to be), I assumed it will be a good suggestion to enter it with Hyperlink’s legendary blade in hand — come on, I wasn’t about to complete the sport with some very sturdy however very ugly Fuse monstrosity now, was I?

Tears of the Kingdom took a Zelda trope that I knew so effectively and made it ten instances higher

I had put it off as a result of I understand how these sequences go down. You have got your Hyperlink to the Previous strategy the place you journey to a serene forest and pull the Grasp Sword out of a stone, surrounded by lovable woodland creatures. Or there’s the Ocarina of Time model, which is way the identical solely in an historical temple and with considerably fewer squirrels.

Like so many issues, Tears of the Kingdom took a Zelda trope that I knew so effectively and made it ten instances higher. I like A Hyperlink to the Previous simply as a lot as anyone else, however you’ll be able to’t actually say {that a} sun-speckled forest (regardless of how serene) is cooler than driving on the again of an precise dragon…

Okay, I may need jumped the gun a bit there. Luckily, I feel that getting the Grasp Sword this time round is such a series-defining second, that just about each facet of bringing it into my possession had me muttering “woah“.

This contains the way you truly discover the cursed factor. There are a number of methods you’ll be able to go about this: you discover the entire Dragon’s Tears and reveal the ultimate cutscene that exhibits you precisely the place the sword is, you’ll be able to rock as much as the Misplaced Woods half-expecting it to be caught within the floor once more. Or you’ll be able to simply truly stumble throughout the Mild Dragon with out doing any of that. I am positive that the previous is that bit extra cinematic, however holy Hylia did the latter have its personal punch-the-air moments.

After clearing the Nice Deku Tree’s phantom indigestion, he provides you with the ‘Recovering the Hero’s Sword’ important quest which pinpoints the situation of the Grasp Sword on the map. The one distinction with this goal in comparison with others is that I seen that it was shifting. My preliminary thought was that there was some sort of Sky Island in orbit round Hyrule and I must leap on and take away the sword. I quick travelled to the closest Shrine to the shifting marker and, within the place of my imagined shifting island, was a whole gold and white dragon with my sword buried in its head. Wow.

There is a sense of pressure to the act right here that is not like something that the collection has performed earlier than

This is not the primary Zelda recreation that has made us work for an opportunity to seize the legendary blade (the considered Skyward Sword’s Sacred Flames nonetheless makes me shiver) however gliding over to and touchdown on the again of the Mild Dragon is one thing else. Arguably, this alone had the potential to be a series-best second, and because the ‘Seize’ command appeared as I walked nearer, I assumed I knew the place it was going — in any case, we have all performed Breath of the Wild — nevertheless it needed to go and subvert my expectations over again.

There’s the apparent swap round of swapping out Breath of the Wild’s required 13 hearts to carry the sword for 2 full rings of stamina, laughing in any respect those that thought they have been getting forward of the sport by loading up on well being first, however the very best change comes from how this feels like no different Grasp Sword second that has come earlier than it.

Clearly, the sequence is extra cinematic than ever earlier than. I am keen on the Grasp Sword sequences of previous, however there’s solely a lot drama you could get out of a person in a humorous hat grunting as he pulls a blade out of a rock. Tears of the Kingdom opts for the exact opposite finish of the spectrum — sheer spectacle. There is a dragon, sure, however as you pull the sword of out the dragon’s head, it begins rushing by way of the sky at high speeds, leaving Hyperlink clinging on for expensive life as if he is Tom Cruise in that one Mission Unattainable film.

How can Nintendo make one other Grasp Sword sequence after this?

And I do not use “for expensive life” calmly. Attempting to tug the sword while low on hearts in Breath of the Wild would lead to literal dying, however exhaustion is hardly essentially the most graphic strategy to die. Tears of the Kingdom creates a scenario the place if you’re not ready to carry the sword (which, keep in mind, you don’t have any concept if you’re going to be, the primary time round), Hyperlink goes to take a tumble off that dragon and fall lots of of ft earlier than assembly a very squishy finish. There is a sense of pressure to the act right here that is not like something that the collection has performed earlier than.

Although the very best half about this complete sequence is that it truly means one thing. In earlier video games, Hyperlink will get the Grasp Sword as a result of he wants it to banish evil. The identical continues to be true right here, in fact, however Tears of the Kingdom has the blade so intrinsically woven into the story that discovering the place it has been all this time has its personal particular melancholic twist.

I will not clarify precisely what the twist is right here — although in case you’re right here, I’m positive you already comprehend it — nevertheless it’s honest to say that it attracts collectively Hyperlink, Zelda and your complete historical past of Hyrule right into a single cutscene the place my previously-uttered “woah” rapidly become an “aww”. It is epic, it is tense, it is thrilling, however most of all it is heartbreaking.

So, as I watched Hyperlink plop safely onto a close-by Sky Island because the dragon flew into the space, I breathed an almighty sigh. Of reduction? Sure, but additionally of disbelief about what had simply occurred. How can Nintendo make one other Grasp Sword sequence after this? What do I do with all of that dragon information that I’ve simply realized? And, most prominently, why did I anticipate over 50 hours earlier than searching for that darn blade?

Princess Zelda could be caught prior to now, however her franchise actually is not. And this second solely enriched the remainder of the sport for me. Whereas I’m reluctant to say that Tears of the Kingdom is the best Zelda recreation ever at this level, I’m assured that — on the very least — its Grasp Sword second is maybe the very best second within the collection ever.