Tears of the Kingdom Detailed quest order roadmap or outline for structured play?

[cuddlywink7]

I love the game so much and am having a LOT of fun but my adhd brain is a little overwhelmed by all the freedom and I think I’d REALLY enjoy the game with a bit more structure. SO, I’m wondering if anyone has seen a parsed out narrative-guided quest roadmap, the more detailed the better.

I am a new-er gamer and I’ve only played years-old games that have very detailed quest checklists and recommended quest order roadmaps down to the smallest side quest and NPC encounter so it’s a bit overwhelming in this brand spanking new, non-linear open world. For instance here are just a few of my MANY internal queries, none of which anyone should feel obligated to answer, though I will be much obliged if you do:

• When should I go into the other chasms (after 1st) and in what order?
• Can I just go up to any sky island at any time?
• Should I prioritize the gazette quests before finishing certain main quests/tears?
• Should I intersperse the tears throughout my gameplay or do them all at once and and if I do them at once where should I situate that in my main quest order?
• Should I try to complete lookout landing’s side adventures (hoz and wanted in particular) prior to certain main story quests? And what about all the other side adventures?
• WHEN oh when would be an appropriate time to continue with master khoga once I complete the first encounter with him???
• And that brings me to the depths in general—is there any area I should prioritize?

…and many, many more. The point is I have SO many questions and the part that’s the most stressful is that I’ve found out from others and on my own that you can really spoil the story for yourself if you’re not careful and story arc and narrative path are like my favorite thing about Zelda at least in BOTW & skyward sword. I say “like” my favorite thing because it ties all my other favorite things together and i love the suspense of the story and piecing it together slowly as it gives the adventuring purpose and the wandering momentum.

TLDR: Does anyone know of a place I might find a quest roadmap or outline that has guidance for a more structured play for people like me who like linear story progression / coherent narrative arc? I did find one on Reddit and it has saved me from some major story spoilers but I’d love something even more detailed.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I love the game so much and am having a LOT of fun but my adhd brain is a little overwhelmed by all the freedom and I think I’d REALLY enjoy the game with a bit more structure. SO, I’m wondering if anyone has seen a parsed out narrative-guided quest roadmap, the more detailed the better.

I am a new-er gamer and I’ve only played years-old games that have very detailed quest checklists and recommended quest order roadmaps down to the smallest side quest and NPC encounter so it’s a bit overwhelming in this brand spanking new, non-linear open world. For instance here are just a few of my MANY internal queries, none of which anyone should feel obligated to answer, though I will be much obliged if you do:

• When should I go into the other chasms (after 1st) and in what order?
• Can I just go up to any sky island at any time?
• Should I prioritize the gazette quests before finishing certain main quests/tears?
• Should I intersperse the tears throughout my gameplay or do them all at once and and if I do them at once where should I situate that in my main quest order?
• Should I try to complete lookout landing’s side adventures (hoz and wanted in particular) prior to certain main story quests? And what about all the other side adventures?
• WHEN oh when would be an appropriate time to continue with master khoga once I complete the first encounter with him???
• And that brings me to the depths in general—is there any area I should prioritize?

…and many, many more. The point is I have SO many questions and the part that’s the most stressful is that I’ve found out from others and on my own that you can really spoil the story for yourself if you’re not careful and story arc and narrative path are like my favorite thing about Zelda at least in BOTW & skyward sword. I say “like” my favorite thing because it ties all my other favorite things together and i love the suspense of the story and piecing it together slowly as it gives the adventuring purpose and the wandering momentum.

TLDR: Does anyone know of a place I might find a quest roadmap or outline that has guidance for a more structured play for people like me who like linear story progression / coherent narrative arc? I did find one on Reddit and it has saved me from some major story spoilers but I’d love something even more detailed.

There really isn't a set structure. The loose structure of progression very much follows that of BotW: the Rito dungeon and Zora dungeon are arguably intended to be done first while Death Mountain and Gerudo Desert are intended to be done second, but that's far from a concrete order. You could easily wind up with enough hearts and gear to walk right over the Gerudo Desert before setting foot in Death Mountain.

Other than that I recommend playing things by ear. Is something just too difficult for you? Come back later and try out something else.

 

[GZ Zelda]

• When should I go into the other chasms (after 1st) and in what order?
• Can I just go up to any sky island at any time?
• Should I prioritize the gazette quests before finishing certain main quests/tears?
• Should I intersperse the tears throughout my gameplay or do them all at once and and if I do them at once where should I situate that in my main quest order?
• Should I try to complete lookout landing’s side adventures (hoz and wanted in particular) prior to certain main story quests? And what about all the other side adventures?
• WHEN oh when would be an appropriate time to continue with master khoga once I complete the first encounter with him???
• And that brings me to the depths in general—is there any area I should prioritize?

This is probably not what you were asking for, and I don't think there is a hyperspecific walkthrough other than maybe the IGN one:

Walkthrough - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Guide - IGN

Welcome to IGN's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough. A world as huge and filled with adventure as Hyrule has all sorts of things going

www.ign.com

This gives a pretty good order.

My advice if you want it:
- Go into chasms whenever you find them and get a nearby lightroot. On my first playthrough, after doing the beginning portion and a couple surface shrines, I got every lightroot before doing any quests.
- You can go to any sky island at any time, but battery power is an important progression hinderance. This is why Zonaite mining/boss killing and battery upgrading is important.
- I did all gazette quests after all the tears and before any main quests. This was satisfying but had spoilers. I did 70 shrines before I really started the geoglyphs though. Maybe do the gazette quests first if you don't want to do all that cross-continental shrine content that helps with the geoglyphs.
- So the tears have a revelation that recontextualizes the entire story in what could be seen as a satisfying or an unsatisfying way. If you don't want to risk being unsatisfied, do the tears last.
- I did Hoz after some town side adventures (Hateno, Lurelin, Tarrey), but before any main quests. There's not much there story-wise tbh, you can do it whenever.
- Do Master Kohga either all at once ASAP, or as you complete the main quests.
- The depths are all the same basically: consider "the depths" as one region of Hyrule. Prioritize areas around Old Map treasures.

The basic gameplay loop for me was: do a shrine or lightroot, do the cooresponding shrine or lightroot, do sky shrines and find Old Maps, go to the Old Map spot and Zonaite mine, upgrade battery, explore more sky, find more Old Maps and Zonaite mine.

On top of that, my order of completion was:

-All lightroots (Master Kohga)
-All shrines
-All geoglyphs
-Newspaper
-Hateno
-Lurelin
-Tarrey
-Hoz
-Armors
-Paragliders
-Main Quests
-Caves
-Addison
-Final Boss
-Side Quests
-Koroks
-Armor Upgrades
-Bosses

This was satisfying, super fun, and kept me on track broadly, except it made the final boss trivial. I would frankly just follow the IGN guide.

 

[GenghisClon]

I can't find Yona...

I didn't go straight to the infirmary after cleaning the sludge off the statue in Zora. Now I can't find Yona anywhere. Any idea where I can find her now?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!