Which major 3D Zelda has the worst story/writing?

[Slatsunus]

Zelda stories/writing typically arent the main reason people play them. I am well aware

But I made a thread like a year ago about which Zelda had the best story and got an interesting discussion out of it, so I was curious about the opposite

Especially on the anniversary of TOK, a game that for me personally managed to be a total disappointment, no in the sense of expecting a Nier/FF etc level story. Not even something like Majora. But I really thought Wind Waker/Skyward Sword would be a reachable quality goal.

But the fact that to me it felt like it actively resented that fact that it was technically a sequel at all and ended up telling one so bare bones that outside of one memory I legit believe it has an argument for being worst in the series.

But that is just my opinion, and I would like to hear others.

 

[The Unsent]

I felt Tears' plot was going through the motions. I prefer conceptually if Calamity Ganon was the last remnant of Ganon destroyed.

 

[IMCaprica]

Breath of the Wild because Vilia.

 

[DarkChronic]

Kind of unfair phrasing - story and writing are two different things. I think BotW and TotK have great writing but poor stories, for example.

 

[Derbel McDillet]

Tears for the sequel disconnect alone.

People waving that away with "Nintendo doesn't care about continuity" like that means anything is absolutely insane to me because no one has ever said that about any direct sequel anywhere ever. Even Mario Galaxy 2 sidestepped this issue.

 

[Grapezard]

Demon King? Secret stone?

 

[Robotoboy]

I felt Tears' plot was going through the motions. I prefer conceptually if Calamity Ganon was the last remnant of Ganon destroyed.

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That's my feeling too. It worked better, and fit the mode of story telling better. TotK copied the same story telling but worse imo. That said I preferred the battle with Ganondorf in TotK

 

[Beelzebufo]

Easily BotW/TotK which is a shame because both of them have fantastic potential

 

[iFirez]

I entered this thread thinking people would be saying Skyward Sword, so I'm glad to see Tears is leading because it has one of my least favourite Zelda stories ever. I really don't like it. Breath of the Wild succeeds in its storytelling and world building much more than Tears - but both aren't great with their writing in general unfortunately.

 

[Atom]

BotW and TotK had me skipping cutscenes which felt kinda unbelievable. Just thoroughly uninspired stories and storytelling all around.

 

[DrForester]

Probably Breath of the Wild.

I actually loved the way they did the flashback story presentation in Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[steviestar3]

Tears story was disappointing, still way better than whatever the hell Skyward Sword was though. Skyward Sword somehow turned an origin story of how the Master Sword was created and how Hyrule was founded into the most boring fetch quest ever. The game is fun from a gameplay perspective but nothing in the narrative works at all other than Groose being a cool guy.

 

[Risitas]

BOTW and it's not even close
At least TOTK had a story

 

[Servbot24]

I voted TOTK but you could just as easily argue for BOTW.

 

[oty]

both tears and botw were some real low points in terms of writing and overall plot tbh, even for a franchise that never really cared that much about it's story like Zelda

 

[blueredandgold]

Did TOTK essentially create its own timeline thingy for its plot? It wasn't really a time travel story in the end. I think I was confused, more than filled with disgust.

Wind Waker be my choice.

 

[LegendofLex]

It's Tears of the Kingdom.

They bring Ganondorf back into the world of BotW and fumble his backstory (and that of the Kingdom of Hyrule as a whole) so it isn't compatible with 25 years of lore?

 

[julia crawford]

tears of the kingdom NPC writing was so utilitarian it put me off, like almost every NPC only talks about things that you can do or visit or whatever

it's not bad the writing is obviously skilled, but it felt misused and boring and pointless and noticing that everything is about exposing you to more things to do really sucked the joy out of it, it feels inhuman

 

[Rodney McKay]

I love OoT and I'm replaying it right now on my Deck, but it's writing is pretty weak, but the story itself is still great, so it's not totally on the bottom.

I personally didn't like Skyward Word's story, but I did like the characters.

I honestly don't know if I have a worst. They all have their pros and cons.
I guess if I had to pick, the story was the least interesting part of BOTW. TOTK is very close, but I think I liked the Zelda story and reveal to be more interesting and surprising.

 

[Belphegor]

TOTK story is so bad it ruins the simplicity of BOTW but it's still not as bad as Twilight Princess.

 

[SupersonicHypertonic]

Story vs writing are 2 different things. You can have a good story but told in a crappy way or vice versa.

TOTK has great story with Zelda and her importance, Rauru and co but it's told in a fractured way. The meat of the story happens in the past while the present is mostly less grand. Had the present connected to the past better (Link telling everyone Zelda fate and it's no longer everyone having no clue) and I think it would've been so much better.

BOTW has a weak story because everything has already happened before the game starts and nothing truly dvelops. Writing is ok because you piece together that led up to the apocalypse and it fits the amnesia story format. BOTW overall the weakest.

I think overall SS has the best story and writing. It's linear so you're along for the entire ride and what you learn fundamentally shapes the Zelda series forever with Hylia reincarnation, the creation of the master sword, Demise and his curse.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Skyward Sword has some of the best characters in the series and that ending reveal is probably the most a Zelda game has made me feel.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Every entry that is not Skyward Sword.

 

[MrSaturn99]

Both Tears and Skyward Sword had good characters/moments, but ultimately I wasn't crazy about either.

We've gone over everything from sequel disconnect to "secret stone!" innumerable times, so shifting gears to SS -- it was already redundant how it was the fourth (fourth!) consecutive 3D Zelda game to latch onto OOT's coattails, but while you could argue the "undeveloped surface" setting plays into this, the overall setting's far too confined/isolated to provide a satisfying origin story and is ultimately just frustrating with how it *purposefully* baits you with finding Zelda and leaving little else to chew on. Previous Zelda games had the right idea with changing the status quo after the first act and while they kinda do this with Groose/The Imprisoned, barring the former's excellent development it's not really enough to render things interesting.

(Way to trip up with Fi's farewell scene, too -- it's like they completely forgot to give her a character arc and just shoved in last-minute maudlin tripe that falls completely flat. Now a patronizing emotionless robot lives forever in the Master Sword and I have to be reminded she exists whenever they play her stupid chime. Uh, yay.)

 

[Slatsunus]

Every entry that is not Skyward Sword.

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Saying this when Majora exists is crazy.

 

[Lark]

Twilight Princess is a mess, narratively, and all the more so when it enters the last leg of its story. It's the only one of the seven I'd judge as actively flawed in its storytelling.

BotW isn't very ambitious in terms of its main narrative, but it does everything it set out to do, without serious issues. I'd say the same for ToTK, landing a little higher and lower than BotW in places.

 

[Slatsunus]

Twilight Princess is a mess, narratively, and all the more so when it enters the last leg of its story. It's the only one of the seven I'd judge as actively flawed in its storytelling.

BotW isn't very ambitious in terms of its main narrative, but it does everything it set out to do, without serious issues. I'd say the same for ToTK, landing a little higher and lower than BotW in places.

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Hmm, IDK how someone can go through the exact same cutscene explanation four different times from 4 planks of wood with zero actual characterizations between them and not come out thinking its story telling is actively flawed at minimum.

 

[DinoBlaster]

Pretty surprised by the votes. BOTW/TOTK story isn't the best but it serves its purpose then gets out of the player's way to let them adventure. WW/TP/SS are yap-a-thons.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Saying this when Majora exists is crazy.

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You are 100% right. I have no excuse

 

[Ravenwraith]

OOT > MM > WW >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> BOTW > TP >>>>>>> TOTK >>>> SS imo.

Twilight Princess was the start of Zelda not having unarguably great storytelling to me. I didn't think the plotline was bad, but I thought there was a lot of dark and moody imagery present in the first third that doesn't get paid off past it. A lot of interesting ideas that turn out to be wet farts in the grand scheme. A lot of pointless imagery from other games shuffled to the forefront without much thought behind it. Midna turns out to be a great character though and thus a lot of the rest of the storyline can fall flat rest assured the player is hooked on one aspect.
Skyward Sword will get points for the relationship between the big two and side characters like groose but the actual moment to moment storytelling, from the script to the way the sequence of events play out even to the character motivations is horrible imo. A few strong scenes at key points and an excellent soundtrack go a long way to carry it, but it doesn't do enough for me to look past it's flaws unlike TP.
Breath of the Wild, by comparsion, does eactly what it sets out to do even if what it sets out to do is simplistic. I think people were expecting a lot more from the first open world outing but I actually prefer a minimalist approach to the surrounding games, since I think it's easier for the writers to pay off one thread than the several presented in the other titles.
Tears kind of reminded me of Skyward Sword in how many redundant scenes they managed to sneak in, and how bad the plotting and character motivations can be, but the big emotional beats here are more effective, and lean into Link's and Zelda's absolute faith in one another to excellent effect, so it escapes the bottom of the list for me.

 

[abrack]

People voting for Skyward Sword be serious, that's the strength of the game.

 

[JonesiiiFromtheMoon]

BOTW with the fake ass Ganon

 

[Mekanos]

Pretty surprised by the votes. BOTW/TOTK story isn't the best but it serves its purpose then gets out of the player's way to let them adventure. WW/TP/SS are yap-a-thons.

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BOTW and TOTK have worse stories but are better games. I don't think that's contradictory.

 

[Richietto]

BotW. It wasn't too much of a problem because of what BotW is, but there's basically nothing there. TotK isn't much better but there's stuff going on outside of the 4 divine beasts.

 

[DinoBlaster]

BOTW and TOTK have worse stories but are better games. I don't think that's contradictory.

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I guess I prefer the less-is-more approach to story telling. The other games I mentioned have more dialogue, interruptions, long-winded monologues, etc. that kind of made me tired of their stories. Not to mention some gameplay segments that were more in support of the narrative than having interesting gameplay in themselves, so I'm sure that affected my opinion of the stories as well.

 

[aloner]

I'd argue BOTW and TOTK don't have bad story or writing (narrative) - it's just the narrative elements are constrained by the limits the gameplay places upon them. Gameplay freedom was prioritized at the expense of the narrative, and that is ok - it's just a choice - but the writing is not bad in either case, just how the story is forced to be told by the gameplay direction. Now, whether narrative compromised by the expansive, freedom focused gameplay (which allows players to create their own stories that are arguably as important to those games as the traditional narrative elements) makes them the worst 3D Zelda narrative work... idk - i think all of them have strong moments regardless.

 

[GreenMamba]

I thought piecing together what happened in Breath of the Wild was pretty fun, it's not necessarily the most interesting story but it takes a different approach and it feels like it accomplished exactly what it set out to do.

Honestly, Twilight Princess is the one 3D Zelda I feel *didn't* actually accomplish what it set out to do. It's the only one that feels like a genuine mess, a product of a troubled development. It hits some high notes with Midna but everything else feels sloppy.

 

[Slatsunus]

I'd argue BOTW and TOTK don't have bad story or writing (narrative) - it's just the narrative elements are constrained by the limits the gameplay places upon them. Gameplay freedom was prioritized at the expense of the narrative, and that is ok - it's just a choice - but the writing is not bad in either case, just how the story is forced to be told by the gameplay direction. Now, whether narrative compromised by the expansive, freedom focused gameplay (which allows players to create their own stories that are arguably as important to those games as the traditional narrative elements) makes them the worst 3D Zelda narrative work... idk - i think all of them have strong moments regardless.

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Again, the way the four sages all expo the exact same thing at you four times with zero variation or characterization attached is just awful writing. IDK how people in this thread can say SS or WW is to Wordy when those scenes exist in TOTK.

 

[Blue_Toad507]

It's easy to pinpoint BotW and TotK for being different in their approach to story, but Twilight Princess is the worst for me. Weakest Link and Zelda dynamic, and the one that replaces it (Link and Ilya) starts off strong but has an extremely unsatisfying and abrupt ending. Zant has a great introduction and mid point scene, but gets dumped for Ganondorf and treated as a joke from that point on.

 

[Derbel McDillet]

Again, the way the four sages all expo the exact same thing at you four times with zero variation or characterization attached is just awful writing. IDK how people in this thread can say SS or WW is to Wordy when those scenes exist in TOTK.

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That's just not a true statement tho, so it's gonna get shrugged off. Like I'm not gonna call them deep, but we're really gonna those characters had the same or no personality.

 

[Slatsunus]

That's just not a true statement tho, so it's gonna get shrugged off. Like I'm not gonna call them deep, but we're really gonna those characters had the same or no personality.

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? I'm taking about the Ancient masked Sages. Who all explain the exact same thing to you with the exact same cutscene and have zero characterization. That is absolutely what happens

 

[Oddish1]

What I hear of TotK does with its story sounds underwhelming but I haven't played it yet and maybe the execution is really good. I thought BotW did its minimal story-telling very well. If I had to pick one I'd say Twilight Princess felt the most like it was going through the motions. Not bad and has some highlights, but I think OoT, MM, WW, SS, and BotW were all much stronger.

 

[Derbel McDillet]

? I'm taking about the Ancient masked Sages. Who all explain the exact same thing to you with the exact same cutscene and have zero characterization. That is absolutely what happens

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I thought you meant the BotW sages.

 

[NotLiquid]

Twilight Princess lacks anything in the way of a resonant emotional anchor for me, I genuinely do not care for the larger narrative of that game. Outside of Midna it's pretty forgettable and does some nonsense swerves. To this day it's the Zelda game I do not remember much of the story details, so I'd put that one at the bottom personally.

BOTW/TOTK might seem lackadaisical on the surface but at least I felt like the world itself had me immersed that I cared more about the story as an extension of that. TOTK in particular surprised me with how it got me invested in a couple gradually building mysteries that BOTW lacked. It could've been better about expositing its story details after finishing a major dungeon rather than recounting the same beats every time, but eh.

 

[Anustart]

The less 'story' a Zelda game has the better the game is.

So BOTW and TOTK will be the top, then that leaves all the others tied for worst. I kid, it's probably twilight princess.

 

[Lark]

Hmm, IDK how someone can go through the exact same cutscene explanation four different times from 4 planks of wood with zero actual characterizations between them and not come out thinking its story telling is actively flawed at minimum.

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It's boring, a poor choice, and not what I'd have done, but it's not incoherent like whatever was going on with Ganondorf at the end of TP. The repeat cutscene is minor enough that I don't think I'd call it a fundamental issue, but this is all subjective.

 

[Berordn]

you can make a good case for BotW/TotK's story being poorly told as a result of the open world structure necessitating the repeat of information in some scenes, totally fair

but they're nowhere near as incomprehensible as everything that happens in TP after the first third of the game

 

[The Quentulated Mox]

It's Tears, I'm fuckin sorry, but the writing in that game is hogass. Demon King Secret Stone Demon King Secret Stone Demon King Secret Stone Demon King Secret Stone Demon King Secret Stone ad infinitum, silly bullshit where "zelda" starts a crack epidemic but everyone still thinks she's legit, zelda just deciding to cast away her humanity for all eternity without any actual interiority to that decision and then impa just saying immediately "actually I'm sure that's reversible don't worry about it," one of the very last lines spoken in the game being "this is just a theory, but..."

I could go in. It's wretched through and through. No compelling reason whatsoever for them to have included voice acting yet.

 

[TeenageFBI]

The only Zelda story that really resonated with me is Majora's Mask, and maybe Link's Awakening. Everything else is varying degrees of "cool characters/cutscenes but I don't really care". I'm still a big fan of the series, I just don't think story has much to do with it.

 

[Tom Nook Says...]

Going with Skyward Sword. So much potential as an origin story and they spent half of it drilling into your brain that Fi, the spirit of the master sword, is a sentient calculator while not significantly differentiating Demise from Ganondorf in any way.