SomeThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomfans have taken online to call for a simple UI change that would fix their grievances with how the game handles the activation of certain abilities. Their pleas surfaced online shortly afterTears of the Kingdomsurvived a barrage of review bombs.
Warning! Mid-game gameplay spoilers ahead.WhileTears of the Kingdomdoesn’t address everyBreath of the Wildcomplaint, Nintendo’s latest Switch exclusive managed to improve on its predecessor in most respects. One notable exception to that trend are Sage abilities,Tears of the Kingdom’sversion of Champion Powers. Since these talents are now tied to companions that follow Link in his adventures, Nintendo decided they should all share an activation method. So, instead of holding the jump, block, or attack button like inBOTW, all Sage abilities inTears of the Kingdomare triggered by approaching their corresponding ally and pressing A.
RELATED:Zelda Voice Actress Reveals Inspirations Behind Her Tears of the Kingdom Performance
Many players are finding this new activation method to vary between clunky and annoying, depending on the situation, having promptly taken online to call for improvements. One of the most high-profile such attempts at getting Nintendo’s attention was authored by Reddit user Icy_Bumblebee, who recently suggested a simple but effective fix to these grievances: a quick selection menu forTears of the Kingdom’scompanion abilitiesassigned to the down D-pad arrow. While that button is already used for whistling, Icy_Bumblebee argued that the whistle should consequently replace the map shortcut in the ability menu.
The solution makes a lot of sense, not least because the map command is entirely redundant right now, seeing how opening the map inThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis already as simple as pressing the minus button on the left Joy-Con or controller. A dedicated menu would also make ability activations much less stressful in combat, especially when it comes to largely defensive powers like Sidon’s shield that are extremely counterintuitive to activate by following an ally who’s always rushing enemies.
Some fans discussing Icy_Bumblebee’s UI fix proposal have also expressed confusion over how Nintendo managed to makeTears of the Kingdom’sability activations that much worse than inBreath of the Wild, concluding that they took the previous game’s elegant control scheme for granted. Others adopted a more optimistic outlook, stating that a clunky ability activation mechanic is something that they’re willing to tolerate seeing howTears of the Kingdom’sLink is no longer alone in his adventures.
While Nintendo is likely to be planning moreTears of the Kingdomupdates, a user interface revamp is not something that fans should be counting on.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available now on Switch.
MORE:Comparing How Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Present Their Lore
