One of the most engaging aspects ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis its willingness to afford you freedom when it comes to exploring the world. Breath of the Wild might’ve been the first to embrace freedom, but Tears of the Kingdom’s traversal mechanics and larger world expand the ways you’re able to approach your adventure.
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The fact that you can skip some quests by completing conditions early is one of the better examples of this, treating you with respect for your initiative rather than forcing you to redo work for no reason. Some quests are more impressive when skipped, letting you experience a sense of unstructured adventure in a way few other games allow.
This article contains spoilers for The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.
10Eventide Island Pirates
Though it’s sad that Breath of the Wild’s Eventide Island Shrine Quest didn’t make a triumphant return, at least beating the horde of monsters in its place is a good way to take out your frustrations. If you get a little too focused on the monsters, though, you might find a completely stunned quest-giver ready to congratulate you on your victory.
This is especially funny considering that Sesami, the quest-giver, had been stranded there alone worrying about the monsters for quite a bit before you arrive – just by ruthlessly combing over the island, you may save his life without saying a word to him.
9Lurelin Village
Lurelin Village is not dissimilar to Eventide Island, since it’s a quest based on defeating monsters to liberate an area. If you’re committed to being antisocial, you’re able to completely avoid hearing about Lurelin Village’s pirate problem and save the town through your bloodlust alone.
Since it’s in a reasonable place on the map, it’s likely that you’ll end up stumbling onto the village early on without even knowing its plight– despite the tougher enemies, it’s still a doable challenge in the early game with some strategy and quick thinking, making it possible for a fresh-faced link to do what an entire village couldn’t without even having context.
8Wanted Series
Imagine, if you will, that you lead a team of experienced monster hunters trying to keep Hyrule safe. Link, the kingdom’s strongest warrior, would be a great asset to the cause, but he disappeared with the princess before any of the chaos first broke out. Suddenly, he appears before you withHinox GutsandGleeok Wingsin hand, here to tell you that he’s defeated every last beast that you’ve struggled with for months.
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This is exactly what happens for Gralens if you decide to go monster hunting before talking to him – despite the time it takes to defeat that many monsters, he’ll somehow only receive word of it the moment you tell him you’ve done the job. Maybe his information network was the problem?
7Bring Peace Series
The “Bring Peace” series of quests entail meeting up with a monster hunting squad and assisting them in defeating a group of monsters terrorizing an area. Typically, it’s easier to take up the quest and get the troops to assist you in the assault, but you can show how ineffective the squads truly are by ignoring them and heading to battle in solitude.
After you’ve finished, you’ll be compensated for your trouble and told how impressive you are for doing the job without any assistance – but nothing is quite as valuable as the look on their faces as you do the job single-handedly.
6Goddess Statue Restoration
With the return of Hyrule as a sandbox, the shrines of Power, Wisdom, and Courage have come back with a new questline: reviving the Mother Goddess Statue to which they are all connected. If you happened to check on the Goddess Statue before meeting them, as well as collect the claws of the three major dragons, you can restore the statue the moment that you arrive at each of the shrines.
This one’s a little more unlikely if you don’t know ahead of time, but considering that Impa’s quest takes you to the Mother Statue and Breath of the Wild players will remember the value of divine dragon claws, it isn’t completely out of the question.
5The Lucky Clover Gazette Series
The Newspaper Stable Quests aren’t all possible to complete early, with certain ones being tied to the presence of your partner and actual cutscenes. Others, though, are perfectly doable before you even begin your tenure with the Lucky Clover Gazette. The best and easiest example is the quest involving the blocked well, which is likely to be entered if you’re trying to find all the wells.
If you end up completing these quests early, you’ll have saved yourself a bit of timewhen going for the exclusive armor set offered by the Gazette. Just remember that not every quest can be completed early, so you’ll still have to work with Penn for some of the time.
4Obtaining Autobuild
The original progression for obtaining Autobuild is to get a picture of a slab underground for Josha, then take her advice and follow the statues to the Great Abandoned Central Mine; but If you spend time exploring underground before accepting the quests, you can find Autobuild (and Master Khoga) without taking a single photo.
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Once you talk to Josha for the first time, you get to fill her in on everything you discovered without her help – thankfully, she’s more excited about the discoveries than upset that you skipped her only questline.
3Obtaining The Master Sword
There are a staggering number of ways to getthe quest to find the Master Sword, which is why it’s hilarious that you’re able to just pull it out without needing to interact with any quest-givers. Even finding it by accident makes you feel majestic, highlighting how well the sequence of retrieving it is executed.
Where you feel the effects of this the most, though, is in the remainder of the story – nearly every major story moment gives you the quest for theMaster Sword, and so in every case, you’ll see the notification appear for a moment only to be completed a second later.
2Reviving The Fifth Sage
Finding the Fifth Sage without guidance is almost a religious experience, being one of the few moments in the main story that makes you feel as though you discovered something for yourself – you already know what you’re looking for with the other sages, but you can stumble onto the Fifth Sage and learn about the lore purely due to your desire to explore.
The huge door guarding the mask, the trip down from the island, and the journey to the assembly plant are all accompanied by a feeling of gravity, as though you are unearthing something of great importance that no other person truly knows about– a feeling slightly dampened if you follow the questline and are all but told to visit the island.
1Defeating Ganondorf
Much like Breath of the Wild, you can defeat Ganondorf nearly as soon as the world opens up to you. Generally speaking, you’ll need to prepare quite a bit beforehand due to the difficulty of getting to Ganondorf– Lynels, Like-Likes, and even the bosses you didn’t defeat will be standing directly in your way before the final boss.
The Master Sword does appear for you by the end of the boss fight if you didn’t obtain it in the first place, so the game even accounts for you getting to this point and keeps it lore accurate. Unfortunately,this does mean you’re able to’t get the true ending, but it’s all worth it for a great speedrun.
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