[softsound]

The UI for Tears of the Kingdom has been quite annoying to me in this regard but so many aspects of that game were just troublesome. It's still fun, but the story and characters make no sense, the UI is modern and lifeless. They went into the weeds of the gameplay, you can see that's where they put their energy. I've been disappointed in a lot of the directions... It's just bad furries left and right. This game would sell with most anything they put in it, but it feels lackluster and unmemorable in many areas. I'm probably a minority in thinking the voice actors are trying too hard too..

I do love the idea of being able to go up and down though it feels a little awkward to me as I normally have to go way up to go down into the underground due to a lot of level design. I kinda wish they put some more cliffs nearby to save me the time. I like the underground a lot though and find that part the most fun.

[cynicalkane]

I think this is also interesting in the direction of the OP's opinion. The new Zelda, for all its AAA chops, has in its main storyline the writing and directing of a bafflingly terrible anime. Incongruously, the story concept itself is compelling, and the scriptwriting for the game's many side characters is verbose (conventionally for Zelda) but otherwise cromulent.

I kind of wonder if something internal happened that the original article is describing. Side NPCs are designed by game designers, so probably written by them or people close to them. The game's concept is probably worked on closely with the top people in charge. But for the main story's execution, one might imagine there's no organizational requirement that the guys in charge have to have a clue how to write or direct a game or even any clue how to write or direct at all.

[trinsic2]

I wonder if this is the reason why Starfield is so disjointed and the inventory system is the same as it always has been. You would think they would put a specialist on such an important part of the game.