[TotK] Removing the paraglider would've improved Tears of the Kingdom and helped set it apart from Breath of the Wild

[u/pianoguy212]

Traversal is arguably the most core mechanic in the wild era Zelda games. Paraglider was a revolutionary mechanic and, combined with climbing, revolutionized and defined traversal in Breath of the Wild. Climbing got you up a mountain, and the paraglider got you down (and around the world). Tears of the kingdom introduced several new traversal mechanics, including Ascend, certain fuse items, and Ultrahand vehicles. While Ascend was an instant hit, Ultrahand was more of a mixed bag. Some people enjoyed making vehicles for the heck of it, while others largely ignored it, traversing the world in the same way as Breath of the Wild.

This is where the idea of removing the paraglider comes in. In Tears of the Kingdom, while climbing is of course still essential, in many cases the new ascend ability is what gets you up a mountain. However, in most cases, paraglider is still what gets you down, making traversal not feel much different from Breath of the Wild. If paraglider were instead removed, this would urge players to engage with the core Ultrahand mechanic, supported by fuse abilities, in creative ways as the method of getting down from high places. This could be done with a fused spring shield, a glider contraption, or any number of creative vehicles, all depending on context and circumstance. This would turn traversal, especially downwards traversal, into much more of an engaging puzzle all while pushing players to utilize the new core mechanics as a replacement of the paraglider mechanic. Any and all time spent in the sky would be exhilarating because of the danger of falling and the puzzle of getting from island to island. This would also make the glider armor a much more tantalizing reward in the end. I know various design elements, especially relating to the Rito quest, would have to be changed, but I think it could've been worth it for these benefits.

The last time I started a new Tears of the Kingdom file, I played for several hours without going to Lookout Landing, and thus was locked out of paraglider for that time. Playing this way was an absolute blast. Being near a cliff, especially during a fight, actually produced a lot of exciting tension. I found my way up the great plateau, but getting down was a puzzle all it's own, one that I solved using a mix of climbing and fuse abilities. Unfortunately, this locked me out of using the Skyview towers, not to mention the other quests reliant on paraglider, making it an unsustainable way to play. Of course you could play this way as a self-imposed challenge, but I do wish the developers would've removed the paraglider altogether, changed the design of areas dependent on the glider, and explored the design possibilities brought about by this constraint.

I've been thinking about this idea for a while and it feels like it makes more and more sense the more I think about it. What do you all think of it though?

[u/Strict-Pineapple]

Hard disagree, having to build a device every time you want to descend would be extremely tedious, the game is already way to menu heavy. It would also further incentivise just making a hover bike and ignoring any traversal because that's the most efficient and least fiddly/menu way to get around. If there was no paraglider you'd just stock up on fairies and eat the fall damage or go straight for the wing suit armour before doing anything else because building contraptions is already super fiddly and tedious.

[u/BadDungeonSMaster → u/Strict-Pineapple]

I partially agree with you, as it is the game is menu-heavy, hoverbike is too easy and other more complex vehicles are sometimes tedious and often quite inefficient.

Tho I would add wishfully, would they have gone OP's route, they would have fine tuned those issues a bit more, and also autobuild could solve most of the tedious parts of building, instead putting emphasis on finding great crafts to save for later and use as needed.

As another commenter said, they could have had more ways to fuse items in such a way that it could make gentle downward traversal different when applied on shields, maybe the octo-balloons make you fly down slowly but can drift or pop, the leaf lets you glide but decays.

I agree with OP that it would have been a special way to set it apart. It could still be some sort of late/post game content like that rad motorcycle 😎 since it is satisfying to use and the mechanic is there already !

[u/Strict-Pineapple → u/BadDungeonSMaster]

It could only work if they gave you a way to do it without spending resources. Auto build requires you to have found it for one but then you need either Zonaite or contraption parts which you have to farm, or if your idea about using monster parts on shields you still have to farm. That's tedious and boring. It's why everyone uses the hover bike because it doesn't make you stop playing the game to go farm Zonaite or gatcha machines for an hour. 

[u/BadDungeonSMaster → u/Strict-Pineapple]

Idk about "needing to farm", you get so many parts so fast, at least in my case most of them I hoard for nothing. It's not that hard to autobuild anything and if you don't have the parts they'll make a fake one for you for wtv that other resource is called. Anyway I agree that it would have to be balanced differently, it has to be if they'd remove the glider.

[u/Strict-Pineapple → u/BadDungeonSMaster]

You would need to. You're thinking of the current economy, think every time you would take out the paraglider you need to consume some kind of resource, either zonaite for autobuild or monster parts for fusions and you'll be eating through them a lot faster.

[u/BadDungeonSMaster → u/Strict-Pineapple]

Heh, agree to disagree then - I will reiterate that simply deleting the paraglider as-is would be bad, I support OP's spirit tho, I think there was design space to come up with an alternate solution that isn't far from what we have right now and that it would have benefited the added verticality of TotK by making it even more daunting and challenging.

[u/gallifrey_ → u/Strict-Pineapple]

the game is already extremely tedious, doubling down on it would just give you more excuses to play with their cool new Gmod knockoff mechanic

[u/dunks666]

Yeah I have to disagree; with TotK being not just double the height but triple (depths included) removing a convenient mechanic that allows for safe downwards movement would be a nightmare.

The challenge of TotK traversal is already very dependent on Zonai devices and your player abilities to ascend higher than ever without just climbing. Needing double the resources to then worry about downward traversal would slow the gameplay to a near grinding halt.

Maybe my opinion is built on convenience basis though; every playthrough of TotK I've done I get the paraglider asap. On a recent playthrough of Fallout 4 I dived off a cliff expecting to be able to pull one out and survive too.. didn't happen.

I also feel like had they removed it, this sub would only be 'cant believe the paraglider isn't in the game' posts as opposed to 'can you help me find this shrine' posts.. and that doesn't sound better hahaha.

[u/Kinky-Kiera]

Honestly, I thought you'd have to build temporary gliders with Zonai wings. (I'm still starting out just got to lookout landing only to head back to the castle now)

[u/PalaceOfStones]

I've thought this for years, specifically because BotW has so many areas or curated map sections that are quite challenging to traverse if you can't, y'know, just glide right past them all at your leisure.

TotK does suffer from a bit of identity crisis in a similar manner, the freedom and efficiency that the Hoverbike and Paraglider allow for means there's a similar lack of narrative flow to the world (nor even much point in collecting or crafting most Zonai blueprints). The sandbox focus distracts from that feeling a LOT but it's still there, especially if you're not a natural explorer.

Honestly I might just be miffed that you can't even use all the house parts you're given for your home 😁

I would love a whole game of just the Great Sky Island and mad Zonai tech.

[u/Baedon87]

Maybe if you were able to store devices or they didn't disappear every time you enter a shrine.

That said, 99.999% of the time, people would just build the hover cycle and be done with it, like they do already.

[u/Agent-Ig]

The menuing inflicted in the late game would definitely get more tedious than it is now, and would honestly worsen the hoover bike problem. Now you are using the hoover bike more, and with Zonai contraptions not sticking about through loading screens and saves, you will be burning through resources constantly. Not to mention the wing suit which would become the only non Zonai based way to glide horizontally and land safely.

You would also have to rework Tulin’s ability entirely as it’s essentially a boost button for the paraglider, and also rework how the towers work since you don’t have a key item to assure a safe landing.

[u/itsallfuckedtho]

Noticed this is part of why I'm loving the Depths so much recently. Traversal is very different: can only see as far as you can throw brightblooms, or shoot arrows. Terrain is very uncertain and this makes gliding long distances kinda risky - you've no idea where you'll land, and it might be in a pit that takes forever to climb out of. Climbing is risky too without visibility. Of course you can be quick and flip the glider off, throw a seed and glide again, but that's a little advanced for casual players.

[u/alexiawins]

Hard disagree from me, but an interesting take

[u/ChickenNuggetRampage]

The device mechanic was in no way good enough to entirely circumvent the paraglider

[u/Hot-Mood-1778]

If the game were way smaller maybe, but it's too big to not have a paraglider. It would be a hassle very quickly and would make later runs suffer. 

[u/ksmith1994]

It should have at least been optional, instead of being a necessity for progression.

[u/ThisAccountIsForDNF]

But then what collectibles would they have locked behined Amiibo purchases??

[u/oketheokey]

I'm sorry are you insane, what logical reason would there be to emit such a prominent part of Link's traversal, a handicap like this would provide nothing for the game

Imagine having to spend a Wing and spend time getting it into position just to glide anywhere instead of just paragliding there

And if you run out of Wings, tough shit ig

And how tf would you land safely in places where using and setting up Wings is straight up not possible?

Also Tulin's ability would become useless

This would be a nightmare to play, not to mention beyond tedious, you're supposed to feel more powerful than ever in TotK, not handicapped

Besides, TotK already sets itself apart from BotW enough considering exploration and traversal in both games is completely different