Daily Debate: Do You Want The Final Area of Tears of the Kingdom To Be Available At The Start of the Game?
Posted on January 12 2023 by Sean Gadus
Zelda fans all have their own opinions about what is the best final dungeon in the series. Overall, the community is very fortunate because there are a variety of great final dungeons across the franchise’s long history. Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule Castle, the most recent final area in a Zelda game, continues the series’ trend of having great final dungeons for the player to tackle. One of the most interesting things about Hyrule Castle is that the player can try to visit the castle any time after they exit the Great Plateau. The player can explore the castle at their leisure, or they can climb straight to Calamity Ganon.
The choice to allow players to explore Hyrule Castle early was an interesting decision by the design team, and it helped cement exploration as a key theme in Breath of the Wild. That being said, the approach was not without its problems or downsides. Some players skipped through most of the dungeon by using the Zora Armor and waterfalls, missing out on some of the interesting challenges that the dungeon provided. Other players arrived at Hyrule Castle with a massive amount of hearts and power-ups, and they found the dungeon to be very easy.
With this in mind, do you want the final area or dungeon of Tears of the Kingdom to be available for the entire adventure, or do you want it to be blocked off for most of the game?
While I enjoyed Breath of the Wild‘s emphasis on exploration and self-direction, I hope that the final area of Tears of the Kingdom is segmented off from the rest of the overworld. Whether the final dungeon is a location protected by magic barriers, an area completely off the map that the player needs to warp to, or an area that emerges from the ground like a shrine, I want the player to only have access to the final dungeon as the story reaches its conclusion. Sectioning off the final area of the game would help build a sense of gravitas and stakes as the players wraps up the main quest. If the final area is inaccessible until the last stretch of the adventure, the developers could also make this area incredibly difficult because they would not have to worry about players accessing it earlier in the experienec. Perhaps the enemies in this area could deal more damage than anywhere else in the game.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think the final area or dungeon of Tears of the Kingdom should be available for the entire adventure or should it be inaccessible for much of the adventure? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. The final battle of Tears of the Kingdom is one of his favorite final battles in the entire series. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
