Shadow of the Erdtree Spoilers
Jul. 24th, 2024 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI'm going to go out on a limb and say that the real spoilers of Shadow of the Erdtree aren't what a lot of people seem to think they are. If I were to say that the final boss of the DLC is Miquella, it's like, sure. That information doesn't really mean anything on its own; and also, I think most people picked that up from the trailer. We already knew Miquella has mind control powers, and the voice-over on the DLC trailer says that maybe mind control powers are scary. Stands to reason.
I think the real spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree, by which I mean the things that are really going to surprise and delight you when you encounter them for the first time, don't have anything to do with the story. To give an example, when you first enter the front gate of the Shadow Keep, the big legacy dungeon at the center of the map, you will be attacked by a boss. You will never, not in a million years, guess what that boss is. It's absolutely fucking magnificent, and I would never spoil it.
The same goes for Tears of the Kingdom. Zelda is missing, and the logo of the game is a dragon, and early on you encounter Impa, who has asked you to investigate the memory tears dropped by the dragon that you've already seen flying around the tutorial area. The dragon has blonde hair, white scales, and the Master Sword sticking out of its head. Its memories seem to be Zelda's memories. Impa says, at the beginning of what will be the second hour of the game for most people, "I wonder if the dragon is Zelda." Yes, I wonder. What a mystery.
What really surprised and delighted me in Tears of the Kingdom were things that nobody talked about. To give an example, what they did with the Lomei Labyrinths in this game is very cool. There are also a series of shrine puzzles in the sky islands over the Gerudo Highlands that I enjoyed immensely, and I was surprised to find that this sequence rewards you with an interesting and extremely useful piece of armor that I've never seen fan art of. So how do you get the other two pieces in the set? That's an actually intriguing mystery. Another genuinely enjoyable sidequest sequence takes place in Lurelin Village, which most people probably bypassed. I was delighted to find a particular character in that location, and that's also not something I would spoil.
I understand the concept of spoilers. Really I do. I love being amazed and surprised and delighted, and I love the thrill of discovery. Still, I can't help but think that the "spoilers" for a ninety-minute movie and the "spoilers" for a 40+ hour open-world video game occupy two different ontological categories.
ETA: Sorry, I don't mean to go on about this. It's just that there are so many interesting aspects of the story and lore and gameplay of Shadow of the Erdtree, and I'm looking forward to the conversations I encounter on podcasts + YouTube + Reddit moving beyond base-level inflammatory discourse. I want to get to the good stuff.
I think the real spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree, by which I mean the things that are really going to surprise and delight you when you encounter them for the first time, don't have anything to do with the story. To give an example, when you first enter the front gate of the Shadow Keep, the big legacy dungeon at the center of the map, you will be attacked by a boss. You will never, not in a million years, guess what that boss is. It's absolutely fucking magnificent, and I would never spoil it.
The same goes for Tears of the Kingdom. Zelda is missing, and the logo of the game is a dragon, and early on you encounter Impa, who has asked you to investigate the memory tears dropped by the dragon that you've already seen flying around the tutorial area. The dragon has blonde hair, white scales, and the Master Sword sticking out of its head. Its memories seem to be Zelda's memories. Impa says, at the beginning of what will be the second hour of the game for most people, "I wonder if the dragon is Zelda." Yes, I wonder. What a mystery.
What really surprised and delighted me in Tears of the Kingdom were things that nobody talked about. To give an example, what they did with the Lomei Labyrinths in this game is very cool. There are also a series of shrine puzzles in the sky islands over the Gerudo Highlands that I enjoyed immensely, and I was surprised to find that this sequence rewards you with an interesting and extremely useful piece of armor that I've never seen fan art of. So how do you get the other two pieces in the set? That's an actually intriguing mystery. Another genuinely enjoyable sidequest sequence takes place in Lurelin Village, which most people probably bypassed. I was delighted to find a particular character in that location, and that's also not something I would spoil.
I understand the concept of spoilers. Really I do. I love being amazed and surprised and delighted, and I love the thrill of discovery. Still, I can't help but think that the "spoilers" for a ninety-minute movie and the "spoilers" for a 40+ hour open-world video game occupy two different ontological categories.
ETA: Sorry, I don't mean to go on about this. It's just that there are so many interesting aspects of the story and lore and gameplay of Shadow of the Erdtree, and I'm looking forward to the conversations I encounter on podcasts + YouTube + Reddit moving beyond base-level inflammatory discourse. I want to get to the good stuff.
