Zelda's Making A Buzz

In all my “free time” that I have between work, school, farm life, and just regular life, one of my main hobbies is video games. I remember the very first platform I got, a PlayStation, when I was 7 years old. I still have it to this day and will break it out occasionally to bring back some nostalgic feelings. As I got older, and the technology got better we ended up getting a Gameboy Advanced and one game “Zelda and the Minish Cap”. Not the best of the Zelda games but I think I beat that game 50 times in the 19 years it’s been out. There are now 18 Zelda games with the newest one having been released on May 12^th, 2023.

This newest one “Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”(TOTK) is breaking the internet. At least my internet. It’s all I see over any of my social media accounts and any time I open my browser. It might be because I have searched many guides and joined some groups to get some tips and tricks. I have spent well over 200 hours playing this game and I am nowhere near close to finishing it. The game give you full control of Link as you try and save Zelda, like all good Zelda games. It puts you in an open world concept. As soon as you finish the tutorial island you are free to do what ever you want. If you want to spend 300 hours running around doing all the side quests and shrines or if you want to go straight to the final boss battle you can.

Nintendo's marketing strategy was interesting. They showed that less was more, they added mystery into their market. Very little was shown about the game before the release, and very little was known. Before the game was released it was all the videogame community was talking about. People waited for 1430 days since the last Zelda release, and they couldn’t wait to see what Nintendo could do with the games. They released 3 trailers which were mostly story driven and showed very little gameplay. The gameplay shown was only 13 min worth from the creator Mr. Aonuma. Here you can see the 3 trailers as well as the 13min video released. Giving so little information about the game led people to create wild theories about what the game would be like.

We knew basic information like new abilities and the world would be a little different, but not enough to know what was going to happen and where the story line would go. Nintendo also showed information about the game and released teasers very early and very often interacting with their customer base. They released their first information very shortly after "Breath of the Wild" was released. Brand recognition was a huge part of their marketing strategy as well. People have been playing Zelda games since 1986 when the original "Legend of Zelda" game came out to be played on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Most people I see posting about TOTK are older individuals who say that they have played every Zelda game released.

As you can see in this post from reddit that was posted before the release of the game, people were excited. They couldn't wait to get back into Hyrule and save Princess Zelda again. Expectations were high, but even if those expectations were not met, they knew the game would still be a blast to play. Afterall most people that played the game have been doing so for decades.

Since its release I have seen non stop questions, comments, ratings, tips & tricks, walkthroughs, and dupes. Most of the videos are the same, but each person puts their own spin on it. The reviews have been interesting. People who already loved the series loved TOTK, people who didn't know what Zelda was and this was their first time playing it....well lets just say they didn't understand the nostalgia. People were fighting back though. Almost every negative review I have seen has had people saying how they are obviously not playing the same game as everybody else. Its not to say that the people who love the game do not have their own gripes about it. Getting used to the new abilities and the companion help has been a struggle for some, myself included. It didn't stop people from being creative in their designs and working around those problems.

I have yet to see an instance where a response was made from the creators of TOTK. They post online but do not interact with the public from what I can see. As most of the people who comment on their posts reply in a positive view, it could be they have no response back. The only exception is with the updates. People have found a few dupes and glitches and it has mostly had a positive affect on the gameplay. Its one of those things that people get very worked up on on either side. Some see it as cheating others see it as being able to play the game better as they don't have to spend so much time farming materials, they can do more of what they want. It is a single player game so nobodies play interferes with someone else, so if it isn't impacting your game play why should you care how someone else plays the game. Granted it wasn't how the Devs intended the game to be played so when an update rolled out they patched the glitches. There was no acknowledgment or comment from the Devs about the glitch, but people are resourceful and have found many others that have also been patched out. I think there could be more interaction from the creators. Let us know that they are listening to us and hearing what we say as a consumer. If we like something or if we don't, at least some recognition that they have heard us and not just patching the game. They could call people out for their amazing inventions, respond when people say good things, apologize if people have problems with the game. They need to be more engaged with their audience, not just promote their product.

One of my big take aways from this was just how much content is out there. I know that its all over my social media and YouTube as I watch videos of people playing and tutorials and help videos, but when I am not actively looking for a specific thing I miss most of what people are saying about the game. It makes me think about what else my brain if filtering out when I am online. I know I see ads all the time and I couldn't tell you what was the last one I saw. They all start bleeding together as they show only things you have an interest in or have clicked on in the past. Then you see the same ones and just get annoyed. In order to really catch my attention it has to be very different then what I have been seeing. Showcasing different products, at different deals and just not the same. It needs to stand out for me to notice and want to click on that link.