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Gerudo Town and its diversity in age, body type, and skin is great (BOTW SPOILERS)

Bolson isn't a joke as he's a self made business man, has the respect of his employees, can write a catchy tune, isn't a afraid to break social standard by being a construction worker, wearing pick trouser and a pink headband.

I'm not even sure he's gay. He keeps talking about leaving to find...I dunno if he said a wife, or just a special someone. And I was thinking, then who is this guy you've been sitting next to the fire with for the whole game? Maybe we're just meant to think they're together, but they're not?
 

ZAMtendo

Obliterating everything that's not your friend
I clicked on this thread to say PLEASE stop posting location spoilers for BOTW in thread titles.

I've seen people post these a couple of times and it's making me want to stay away from GAF.
 

Berordn

Member
I'm not even sure he's gay. He keeps talking about leaving to find...I dunno if he said a wife, or just a special someone. And I was thinking, then who is this guy you've been sitting next to the fire with for the whole game? Maybe we're just meant to think they're together, but they're not?

Karson mentions having a girlfriend a couple times, despite living on the construction site.

I clicked on this thread to say PLEASE stop posting location spoilers for BOTW in thread titles.

I've seen people post these a couple of times and it's making me want to stay away from GAF.

Characters reference Gerudo Town as early as you leave the plateau. The name isn't a spoiler.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Still don't like how Gerudo are considered almost a separate race.

Like let's have a representative of the rock people, bird people, fish people and then these brown women.

The Hylians (elfin Tolkienesque white people) are also a separate race, as are the Sheikah (more Japanese inspired), so there's pretty equal treatment on that front. Actual humans do show full a range of skin-tones, including browner skinned people like Rensa and Bugut.
 
It's a segregationist and protectionist society based on ridiculous customs and conservative practices, so no wonder gaf loves it

/s
 

Majukun

Member
Only quests required are the one immediately inside the town. It's worth noting you have to actually inspect the Thunder Helm after this and ask for it again you don't get an update telling you you are done.

Off the top of my head the ones I did
Polluter Quest
Molduga Medicine Quest
Save the Gerudo Guard (again) Quest
Sand Seal Race Quest
Enter The Gerudo Secret Club Quest
what's the
molduga one? I killed already two of them but nobody in the city asked me anything about them... they are those tremors like creatures that roam the two oasis near the city right?
 
Bolson isn't a joke as he's a self made business man, has the respect of his employees, can write a catchy tune, isn't a afraid to break social standard by being a construction worker, wearing pick trouser and a pink headband.

Yep. What I've been saying but much better said ;) I agree 100%. Bolson is awesome.

Weird anecdote, but my uncle who is gay works at Lowe's (not sure if that's everywhere, basically a Home Depot-ish place) and I've actually hear people make remarks about that like "why does he work there?" "Do people there even respect him?" "I bet he only stays in the decorative part." Nice to see someone so flamboyant take on a role like that. Like I said in a prior post, I heard "the Boss" and was expecting some muscular masculine dude.
 

bomblord1

Banned
what's the
molduga one? I killed already two of them but nobody in the city asked me anything about them... they are those tremors like creatures that roam the two oasis near the city right?

Yes, a Gerudo in town who can usually be found talking to the guards either in front of the palace talking to the guards or at the guard station needs medicine for her sick husband but it can only be made with Mulduga guts.
 
Still don't like how Gerudo are considered almost a separate race.

Like let's have a representative of the rock people, bird people, fish people and then these brown women.

In defense of BotW, the Gerudo aren't just brown people anymore, they're HUGE. It isn't easy to tell from some screenshots, but the average Gerudo towers well over Link, and their adolescent leader is about as tall as he is (hard to get a comparison).

It's definitely much harder to see them as just brown Hylians given that they're almost twice Link's height.

Given how much taller every other race is than the Hylians and Sheikah, I'm beginning to wonder if Hylians are actually just smol.
 

Majukun

Member
Yes, a Gerudo in town who can usually be found talking to the guards either in front of the palace talking to the guards or at the guard station needs medicine for her sick husband but it can only be made with Mulduga guts.
ok, I'll try that then,
went to the barracks several times, so I suppose I have to check the main entrance of the palace
.
 
I instantly knew Bolson was "the boss" because he was wearing tiger stripes. It's a design quirk all construction bosses in Zelda have for whatever reason. Him not being a big macho guy never really registered right off the bat.

I'm not even sure he's gay. He keeps talking about leaving to find...I dunno if he said a wife, or just a special someone. And I was thinking, then who is this guy you've been sitting next to the fire with for the whole game? Maybe we're just meant to think they're together, but they're not?

They specifically keep what kind of partner Bolson would has as vague as possible. No gender is mentioned, he just keeps saying "maybe I should find a spouse" and variants of that.

I clicked on this thread to say PLEASE stop posting location spoilers for BOTW in thread titles.

I've seen people post these a couple of times and it's making me want to stay away from GAF.

The only 3D Zelda game without a Gerudo or a mention of Gerudo in it is Skyward Sword.

It should just be expected. Like SPOILER ALERT there are Goron and Zora as well. They also may have a home town where they live.
 

Owensboro

Member
I love this town too. When I first got access I expected it to just be full of gigantic amazonian washboard abs women like you see from their champion and the guards, but the first NPC I ran into was the larger hipped variation and was really pleasantly surprised. It only gets better as you see the different heights, skin tones, builds, and ages. It's a super great place.

But holy shit, have you seen their abs? Like, damn, I want abs like that.

ok, I'll try that then,
went to the barracks several times, so I suppose I have to check the main entrance of the palace
.

I've seen her in the barraks talking to the main guard, and in front of the "palace" entrance at the top of the stairs talking to the right guard. It's a nice touch she only talks to people with combat experiences (guards)
.
 

Toxi

Banned
Goddamn, there's a lot of personality in that crowd screenshot that's a stark contrast to many other games. Really love it.
 

peakish

Member
Gerudo Town pretty much reinforces my opinion that a Zelda game set completely in and around the Gerudo Desert could be great. Expand Gerudo Town into a Clockwork Town-like area and flesh out some cool surrounding areas. Would make for a nice change from the usual topography of water/forest/woodland/fire areas.
 
I clicked on this thread to say PLEASE stop posting location spoilers for BOTW in thread titles.

I've seen people post these a couple of times and it's making me want to stay away from GAF.

Did you think the Gerudo region of Hyrule just....ceased to exist?

This isn't a spoiler, whatsoever. Guess what? Hyrule Castle is in the game too!

To be fair, you can't reach the Gerudo hideout in Twilight Princess; the remaining Gerudo fled beyond the bounds of the map.

Yeah, I suppose that's a fair point.

That being said, now that the game's been out two weeks, minor, unmarked spoilers are going to become much more frequent and, in my opinion, are acceptable within reason.
 

fernoca

Member
Yep!
I was so happy when I entered for the first time. Was so well done and like a dream of sorts. After all this years, and how they nailed everything about it.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Did you think the Gerudo region of Hyrule just....ceased to exist?

This isn't a spoiler, whatsoever. Guess what? Hyrule Castle is in the game too!

To be fair, you can't reach the Gerudo hideout in Twilight Princess; the remaining Gerudo fled beyond the bounds of the map.
 

jph139

Member
In defense of BotW, the Gerudo aren't just brown people anymore, they're HUGE. It isn't easy to tell from some screenshots, but the average Gerudo towers well over Link, and their adolescent leader is about as tall as he is (hard to get a comparison).

Yeah, I first met a Gerudo out in the world and it kinda weirded me out, honestly. Making them huge amazonians was probably a good move if only from a visual diversity standpoint. Moving away from the "brown lady race" image.

But it really just makes me want to see them flesh it out further. I want a game where Link is born Gerudo, now.

Damn that'd be cool. Link more or less an heir to Ganondorf, a true outsider to Hyrule, trained by warrior women...

I think a brown Link is probably even less likely than a girl Link, though, unfortunately.
 

Flipyap

Member
Still don't like how Gerudo are considered almost a separate race.

Like let's have a representative of the rock people, bird people, fish people and then these brown women.
Their naming convention is also a sad mess. The more traditional human-analogue characters get unique, varied town names while everyone else gets "[Species Name] Town."
 

XaosWolf

Member
There's some weird stuff in Gerudo Town too like:

- 2 confused Gorons wondering why they were let in despite being male.
- A Rito that is staring at the meat vendor and wishing they had poultry.
- An older Gerudo who seems to be far removed from the others and can easily see through your disguise.
- An actual alcohol bar where they won't serve Link anything due to his age making you wonder how old Link actually is/was.
 

mhayes86

Member
Gerudo Town is great! My wife loved the
cross dressing
quest. I also liked how they kind of characterized the Gerudo a bit more through dialogue. As a society of women that forbids men, they learn about love in a classroom and some of them long for someone to marry.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
There's some weird stuff in Gerudo Town too like:

- 2 confused Gorons wondering why they were let in despite being male.
- A Rito that is staring at the meat vendor and wishing they had poultry.
- An older Gerudo who seems to be far removed from the others and can easily see through your disguise.
- An actual alcohol bar where they won't serve Link anything due to his age making you wonder how old Link actually is/was.

He's 17.

Though technically he's 117 years old.
 
Definitely better than in previous games, but I still wish their culture wasn't so stereotypically middle eastern. Always rubbed me the wrong way, especially when they're the only race with their own language here for some reason?

Still like them a lot here, mind. Definitely the best town in the game, and my friend absolutely adores them.
 
Gerudo town was the first one I came across afterk Kakariko and I was blown away by the NPC model diversity indeed. I have more pics of that place than any other.
 
I think all the towns are pretty good in having all the characters look really different. In all of them there's elderly people, different skin/rock/feather/scale tones and there's different races that resemble
owls
or
stingrays.

Their body types are just a bit more limited because, well, they're specialized species. The Zora swim all the time, the Rito fly and the Goron are musclebound so they can dig up rocks.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
In general I really like how the towns and races are relatively fleshed out compared to past Zelda games. It strikes a good balance between being plausible, while still being closer to a fairy tale setting. Not too realistic, not too cartoonish.

Goes a long way towards making Hyrule seem like a place that exists rather than the extremely simplified, almost abstract, representation of a fantasy kingdom it usually is.
 
Their naming convention is also a sad mess. The more traditional human-analogue characters get unique, varied town names while everyone else gets "[Species Name] Town."

Gerudo Town and Rito Village have no real excuse, but Goron City and Zora's Domain have been the names of those race's main towns for 20 years, so it's kind of tradition at this point.

Gerudo Town could have been something else in their made up language, and Rito Village could have easily been "Dragon Roost Village" and still completely worked. And been more unique
 

Big One

Banned
The Sheikah are also basically a brown skin variant.

Though really the most distinct thing about the Sheikah is their eye color, and the Gerudo it's their noses, lol.

There's light and dark skinned variants of all the humans in Zelda, even Hylians.

I just interpret it as being similar to the real world, humans were nomadic and spread across the world evolving to have different shades of skin color.
 
It's a shame how much the other towns (with Divine Beasts) suck in comparison. Zora's Domain looks cool but it isn't nearly as lively. I didn't like Goron Town at all

To be fair, at least the plot with the Zoras was the most developed. Goron and Rito arcs are more like slightly glorified sidequests.
 

Avallon

Member
I clicked on this thread to say PLEASE stop posting location spoilers for BOTW in thread titles.

I've seen people post these a couple of times and it's making me want to stay away from GAF.

So stay away from GAF. If you're on some sort of ridiculous blackout, it's on you to avoid spoilers.
 

Toxi

Banned
Gerudo Town pretty much reinforces my opinion that a Zelda game set completely in and around the Gerudo Desert could be great. Expand Gerudo Town into a Clockwork Town-like area and flesh out some cool surrounding areas. Would make for a nice change from the usual topography of water/forest/woodland/fire areas.
I really like this idea for a setting. Maybe make it so that the Gerudo desert is expanding and so other races are forced to adapt, though the Gerudo would be the most populous similar to Hylians/humans in the other games. It reminds me of Morrowind kinda.

Plus, I like settings that do variations on a certain biome. One of the reasons why I like Metroid Prime 2 so much is that all its areas are variations on the theme of "wasteland".
 

butman

Member
You can't let the rest of the players that have not reached that point still take the surprise, right?
Now everyone who happened to read the title of the thread by accident we are predisposed to that Gerudo Valley is incredible.

Stick with the OT pleeeeaaaase.
 
Definitely better than in previous games, but I still wish their culture wasn't so stereotypically middle eastern. Always rubbed me the wrong way, especially when they're the only race with their own language here for some reason?

Still like them a lot here, mind. Definitely the best town in the game, and my friend absolutely adores them.

If they weren't identifiable as middle eastern, then we would probably be questioning why there aren't any middle eastern archetypes in the game, especially when they've been present in past games. Wondering if Nintendo intentionally decided to exclude and not touch that with a 10 foot pole, rather than saying "no, these people exist, and can co-exist."
 
Yet another BOTW thread title that casually spoils me.. There'll be nothing left to spoil by the time I get around to playing this game :'[
 
Yet another BOTW thread title that casually spoils me.. There'll be nothing left to spoil by the time I get around to playing this game :'[

Shit that's in the trailers isn't a spoiler, fuck outta here with this discussion-stifling spoilerphobia. If THAT is too big of a spoiler for you, you shouldn't be on gaming websites at all.

Like it too, but still wonder why the "gay" characters in Zelda BOTW are still more used as a Joke or as dragqueens.

Are we talking about Bolson? I don't know, there doesn't really seem to be anything negative about his portrayal. I don't know your sexuality, so I'll just speak generally here, but I feel like there's this false notion amongst straight men who try to view themselves as progressive that ANY portrayal of a gay man as effeminate is a negative stereotype, and I find that line of thinking problematic. I'm not LGBT myself, but from my discussions with gay friends, I've come to understand that some gay men find strength in their identity by rejecting traditional notions of expected masculinity. I don't think there's a problem with a male character, who is implied to possibly be gay, being represented as effeminate as long as it's not presented as something negative, which I don't really see Bolson's portrayal as. Of course, as I said, I'm just a straight dude myself, so my opinions on this topic would probably best be taken with a grain of salt.

I suppose that in an ideal situation, there'd be strong enough LGBT representation across the board in a game like this that you'd have multiple explicitly gay characters who are presented in both effeminate and masculine ways.
 

phanphare

Banned
To be fair, at least the plot with the Zoras was the most developed. Goron and Rito arcs are more like slightly glorified sidequests.

man I loved the Goron bit.
especially the end when Yunobo sees Daruk and starts cheering ;_;

Yet another BOTW thread title that casually spoils me.. There'll be nothing left to spoil by the time I get around to playing this game :'[

spoiler culture has truly gone too far
 
Another thing I absolutely love about the NPCs is how expressive they are. Virtually all of them change expressions when talking to you. I love seeing NPCs that I've helped smile at me when I start talking with them.
 

Sadist

Member
I just like the culture in the game. I appreciate that they have their own language and customs. Really cool.

But honestly, that goes for everything in this game. The amount of details in this game is mind boggeling.
 

peakish

Member
I really like this idea for a setting. Maybe make it so that the Gerudo desert is expanding and so other races are forced to adapt, though the Gerudo would be the most populous similar to Hylians/humans in the other games. It reminds me of Morrowind kinda.

Plus, I like settings that do variations on a certain biome. One of the reasons why I like Metroid Prime 2 so much is that all its areas are variations on the theme of "wasteland".
Yeah, I also love the world of MP2 for that reason and even prefer it to Tallon IV. It's very cohesive. I imagine that Nintendo could fill a desert or near-desert area with a ton of interesting landmarks, ruins, oases, cities and canyons.
 
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