THIS BOI!!! This is what I wanted from Breath of the Wild!! Holy Fucking shit I loved it!!
Alright, let’s calm down for a second and calmly and rationally discuss this dungeon.
So, immediately the aesthetic and lore of this place being a legendary Rito (or maybe Zonai?) ship floating in the sky amidst a giant tornado that no Rito (yet somehow my confused and aimless ass) could’ve reached was incredible. Having to launch myself from ship to ship flying through the air was a really fun idea for a wind temple and I thought this conceptually was just pulled off so much better than Breath of the Wild’s version of this same idea. If this mechanic accomplished anything for me, it was nailing the sense of massive scale that exists around this temple, and I never really felt that in Breath of the Wild.
The puzzles in this temple were…fine. Okay. Passable. Once again these just feel like shrine puzzles thrown together in one temple. I still miss the days of freeing all of the monkeys in the Ordon Temple or the interconnectivity of the Great Bay temple but really these puzzles weren’t bad. I did enjoy having to fly around the temple to locate the locks, that was easily the best part and matched up with the “wind” theme well enough.
And then there’s Colgera. Oh, Colgera.
First off, the sound track to this shit was amazing. Second of all, the exhilaration of this entire boss fight taking place mid air while I damaged the boss via nose diving through his weak points like a Hylian missile was amazing. Third, I felt despite all of the spectacle, he wasn’t walk in the park easy and there were still plenty of attacks that he threw out that kept me on my toes and gave me serious trouble dodging them.
Comparing Colgera to Thunderblight Ganon…I’m not even going to finish that sentence.
Last but not least, Tulin. Tulin Tulin Tulin.
So this is where the Temple really came alive for me, and Tulin in his own way is a microcosm of why I find this game far superior to Breath of the Wild.
Let’s compare Tulin to Rivali, the character Tulin is meant to replace. Now, I have no problem with Rivali. He was cool, he had a fun champion’s power that I enjoyed using, and lorewise he was pretty hype.
However, I didn’t really care much about Rivali. He was just kind of there, I found like he and Link had this off screen history that I really couldn’t see or fully understand.
Tulin on the other hand, is pretty much far superior to Rivali in every way. You actually see and experience Link’s history with Tulin if you pay attention to him and do his quest in Breath of the Wild. Back then he’s just some kid in awe of Link who wants to live up to his father’s name, so him coming back in Tears as a companion to fight alongside Link is just perfect, because it seems like I know this kid much better than I knew Rivali.
Not only that, but Tulin actually travels and fights with you long before you reach the temple itself and throughout the Temple. Rivali shows up just to speak to you and then to grant you his power after you beat the Temple. Tulin is by your side throughout the entire thing, granting you his sage power as well as fighting enemies himself alongside Link. As soon as I heard that Tulin was the only Rito who could summon a Gail, I thought to myself “huh. That’s like Rivali. So I’ll probably get his power after the dungeon.” But NO, he travels with you the entire time and fights alongside you! That shit was amazing!
Tulin feels like a character I know truly well and have connected with. I got to see pretty much his entire journey from young aspirational kid to Rito hero and wind sage. I’m completely amazed that they pulled this off from both a story and game design perspective.
Tulin utterly takes a humongous dump on Rivali as both a character and a companion, and the difference between Rivali and Tulin pretty much incapsulates how I felt about Breath of the Wild vs how I feel about Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild was great, but also extremely safe and just really took no risks, and it was obvious where the shortcuts were taken. Tears of the Kingdom is a completely fucking shocking slam dunk that seemingly cannot miss with me.
And then the entire Rito landscape reverting back to normal after I cleared the Temple??? I am just completely in shock. Tears once again just completely flabbergasts and knocks me on my ass.