Switch 2’s Zelda Notes Feature Misses The Point Of The Games

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Nintendo has significantly improved several Switch 1 games on the Switch 2 platform, especially The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. These games not only run more smoothly and have sharper visuals on the new hardware, but they are also compatible with a newly introduced service called Zelda Notes. While some of the features offered by this service can be quite innovative, they sometimes clash with the games’ most appealing aspects – their sense of exploration and discovery.

Using the Nintendo Switch mobile app, Zelda Notes provides an array of tools to enhance your journey within Hyrule. It allows you to review comprehensive logs of your gameplay, such as the number of enemies you’ve defeated and resources gathered, in addition to comparing your progress against fellow players globally. The platform also rewards achievements in the form of medals for reaching certain milestones (for instance, using Zonai powers 1,000 times), and offers functions to share items and designs with other gamers automatically.

While both games are enjoyable on their own without using the accompanying app, the navigation feature in Zelda Notes significantly enhances the gaming experience. Beyond storing personal stats, this tool can function as a GPS within the game, guiding you towards points of interest or collectibles. As you traverse Hyrule, it shows your current location and offers suggestions for nearby discoveries, such as shrines, caves, treasures, and enemies. By choosing a destination like an unfound Korok, the app provides audio directions to help you locate any missed or hard-to-find collectibles, making your exploration more efficient.

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Using Zelda Notes appears to be the strongest argument, particularly for completionists who are tackling Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These games have an abundance of shrines and hidden secrets, making it challenging to keep track of them all. With Zelda Notes, you can easily find overlooked items without having to search online for solutions, which is quite convenient. However, while using it, I found myself questioning if I was somehow cheating because the feature works so seamlessly and intuitively, especially when trying to decipher where your shrine radar is pointing.

A significant part of why Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are captivating lies in their flexible, non-linear design, which consistently piques your curiosity and motivates you to deviate from your primary goal, drawn by striking landscapes and intriguing distractions that encourage exploration. Discoveries made while meandering off the usual path often provide the most fulfillment. In essence, the function of the Navigation tool goes against what makes these games unique. While knowing the location of a missed shrine and being able to navigate directly there is handy, it diminishes the sense of discovery that adds charm to these games.

Additionally, both games have built-in mechanisms for tracking objects during gameplay, which foster a sense of adventure more effectively than the Navigation feature in Zelda Notes. For instance, there’s the shrine radar and the Korok mask, which vibrates when you’re near hidden Koroks. These features subtly guide you without giving away solutions, providing helpful hints while allowing you to experience the joy of discovery. In contrast, the Navigation feature eliminates this aspect completely, reducing the sense of achievement upon finding the desired item.

In a similar vein, it’s worth noting that the Daily Bonus function works similarly. Every 24 hours on Zelda Notes, you get a chance to spin a wheel offering various in-game advantages. These can vary from temporary enhancements such as increased defense or speed, reminiscent of gaining these benefits from eating a meal, to the option to repair a broken weapon. However, it’s important to note that this repair feature isn’t as powerful as it might seem at first glance; the chance of actually using it is quite low, and it can only be used once. Despite this, its existence conflicts with one of the game’s fundamental design principles. Although some may find it contentious, the wear-and-tear mechanism in the game is deeply embedded in its gameplay, encouraging players to explore the world and collect resources. The repair option, even with its limitations, seems to bypass this well-thought-out system, potentially undermining the overall gaming experience.

In essence, the rewards on offer aren’t likely to drastically alter your gaming experience. A one-minute speed boost might seem insignificant compared to the overall journey you embark upon, and limiting the roulette spins to once a day prevents exploitation. It’s comparable to gaining extra items by scanning an Amiibo figure, a minor bonus that primarily offers some added convenience. Yet, when game mechanics are intricately connected as they are in these two Zeldas, any additional benefit – no matter how modest – may seem at odds with the game’s design philosophy.

Nintendo needed to strike a careful balance with Zelda Notes, creating a service that offers additional helpful features for dedicated players, yet can be disregarded by those who prefer the thrill of self-discovery. In this regard, it successfully meets its objectives. The Zelda Notes app provides enough extra functions to make it a useful companion tool, especially for those wanting to mark off any remaining collectibles without worry about spoilers. However, when the games it’s associated with are intentionally designed to nurture creativity and curiosity, using the app might seem less rewarding altogether.

While examining the map in my Zelda Notes, I came across a group of unfound Koroks nearby. Instead of heading straight to them and marking them off, I opted to shut the app down, don the Korok mask, and venture out without a specific goal. Surprisingly, during this journey, I chanced upon a hidden cave that I’d never seen before.

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2025-06-30 23:09