History YMMV / HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity

** Before the DLC "Guardian of Remembrance" was released, Teba's farewell to Revali came across as him [[BrokenPedestal seeing that his hero turned out to be a petty jerk.]] But after the DLC was released, it now comes across as Teba [[RebuiltPedestal finally seeing that Revali is a much kinder person than he lets on.]]
** [[spoiler:Revali's scene with Teba's son Tulin, with the latter expressing optimism in becoming a great Rito champion and mastering the Great Eagle Bow like Revali, with Revali expressing optimism in Tulin becoming master of the wind like him, becomes even more heartwarming in hindsight when it's revealed in ''Tears Of The Kingdom'' that Tulin is the descendant of the Rito Sage who fought alongside the first King of Hyrule 10,000 years ago, and Tulin ends up wielding the Great Eagle Bow after becoming the new Sage of the Wind.]]
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: A lot of people stated that the voice acting in the English dub has improved from the previous game, particularly Mipha's, whose performance was seen as lackluster in the original game.

** While he is by no means ''bad'', general consensus among veterans of this game is that Daruk is one of the worst characters in the game, mainly because of his inability to cancel out of his Stasis rune's canned attack animation, with his Stasis attack not being nearly good enough to make up for it. This makes depleting weak-point gauges much more of a hassle with Daruk, making dealing tons of damage more difficult. This is made up with by his impenetrable guard meaning that he can simply wait for an opponent's weak point to appear, then quickly transition into his strong attack, but this isn't as quick as the other character's options that come with a cancelable Stasis rune and the slower pace of this strategy runs into the problem that most of the [[TimedMission missions are timed.]] He at least has two weak point force attacks in his fifth and sixth strong attacks, both of which summon lava that can be denoated, but both of these methods are still very slow, both to come out and in terms of time efficiency.

* MoralEventHorizon: Astor crosses this when he [[spoiler:turns against the Yiga Clan when they were the only ones to swear their loyalty to him and uses their souls to power the Blight Ganons. Not even Master Kohga could stand by him after that.]]

** Older Purah still has every bit of energy and eccentricity as her child self from the original game, and thus has gotten this reception too, leading to some fan miffed that she wasn't a playable character. [[spoiler:They got their wish with the ''Guardian of Rememberance'' DLC, where she's part of the dual Robbie & Purah character combo.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[TheHeavy Astor]], aka the [[DarkMessiah Prophet of Doom]], was [[FromNobodyToNightmare born in a Hyrulean village]] and became obsessed with the power of Ganon. Becoming a self-styled prophet of Ganon and allying with the Yiga Clan, Astor plots to unleash the monstrous [[Characters/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamityGanonAndDarkForces Calamity Ganon]] on the world so it would either submit to his own twisted will or be destroyed. Astor makes several attempts on Princess Zelda's life to prevent her from unlocking the power that would seal Ganon away; rips the souls out of his own Yiga allies to empower his Blight Ganons; and even orders Ganon to devour the heroes in the final battle at Hyrule Castle to [[FameThroughInfamy fulfill his destiny as the man who brought forth this age of Calamity]].

* MagnificentBastard: [[TheCreon Sooga]] is the brave, loyal second-in-command of the [[RenegadeSplinterFaction Yiga Clan]], and Master Kohga's personal bodyguard. Rescued by Kohga as a starving youth, Sooga repays his gratitude by becoming the greatest Yiga Blademaster of all time, serving as the field commander while Master Kohga naps in his hideout. On the battlefields, Sooga is a formidable and cunning foe, dividing the [[Characters/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamityHyruleanForces Hyrulean forces]] with feint attacks and sabotaging their equipment to hinder their advances. When the tide of battle turns against him, Sooga honorably withdraws his forces and takes full responsibility for their losses. When [[DarkMessiah Astor]] betrays the Yiga Clan and sends his minions to harvest Kohga's soul, Sooga defends his master to the very end, making his LastStand against four Blight Ganons while mortally wounded. His sacrifice moves the Yiga Clan to join Zelda's growing army against Calamity Ganon, with Master Kohga swearing to avenge his dearest comrade and bodyguard.

* CompleteMonster: In this AlternateTimeline spinoff of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', [[TheHeavy Astor]], aka the [[DarkMessiah Prophet of Doom]], was [[FromNobodyToNightmare born in a Hyrulean village]] and became obsessed with the power of Ganon. Becoming a self-styled prophet of Ganon and allying with the Yiga Clan, Astor plots to unleash the monstrous [[Characters/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamityGanonAndDarkForces Calamity Ganon]] on the world so it would either submit to his own twisted will or be destroyed. Astor makes several attempts on Princess Zelda's life to prevent her from unlocking the power that would seal Ganon away; rips the souls out of his own Yiga allies to empower his Blight Ganons; and even orders Ganon to devour the heroes in the final battle at Hyrule Castle to [[FameThroughInfamy fulfill his destiny as the man who brought forth this age of Calamity]].

** The reveal of a second, seemingly corrupted version has the white one dubbed Good Egg and the black one as Bad Egg JustForPun. Some have also called the white one the Good Egg and the black one the Deviled Egg.

* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/TheLegendOfZelda It has its own page.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz_ACVfZko8 "Overlooking Hyrule (After the Calamity)"]], which plays on the post-game map screen [[spoiler: after the heroes have averted the Calamity. After listening to the doom-laden music that accompanied the Calamity itself for so long, it really gives you the feeling that [[EarnYourHappyEnding it is finally over.]]]]

* BreatherLevel: After the brutality that is [[spoiler: [[ThatOneLevel Remnants of the Calamity]]]], the next challenge is... [[spoiler: Harbinger Ganon]]. Not even a harder version, just [[spoiler: Harbinger Ganon]]. While he is a challenge, it's nothing next to [[spoiler: fighting the four Blight Ganons two at a time]].

** The little Guardian on the cover has gotten nicknames like "Potty" (as in "pottery", not ToiletHumor) and "Egg Guardian", due to its white color and oval shape. Fittingly, [[spoiler: "Potty" ended up being the closest to its official name Terrako, as in "terracotta".]]

** With the reveal that [[spoiler: the story takes place in an alternate timeline]], some fans have taken to calling this game ''Zelda: [[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]''.

** According to Creator/MasahiroSakurai, he didn't include the ''Breath of the Wild'' version of Zelda as a playable character in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' because he felt she was a researcher, not a fighter. Fast-forward to this game's announcement, and this version of Zelda found some time between her archaeological studies to learn how to effectively use the Sheikah Slate on the battlefield as a weapon in-and-of itself. Sure, it isn't your traditional magic-user Zelda, but she's a combatant nonetheless. [[spoiler: Unless you're using her Light Bow moveset, in which case she is your traditional magic-user Zelda that could fit perfectly in ''Smash''.]]

** Every character has enough good qualities that there's no outright terrible fighter in the roster, but to a casual player, [[spoiler: The Great Fairies]] may be seen as the worst character in the game due to being slow and large characters that hog the screen real estate. This means that they not only have ridiculously huge hitboxes, but also that it's hard to tell if you're even ''hitting'' most enemies since your character is blocking the view (and probably causing EventObscuringCamera issues in the process), much see if foes are about to attack and if you should respond with a dodge or use a rune. Many claim to even have trouble beating their ''dedicated training mission''. That being said, [[DifficultButAwesome if you can adapt to all of this]], and your button press timing is on-point, they are an interesting high risk, high reward character with incredibly high damage output and can decimate bosses in seconds. Their guard, while incapable of deflecting a laser shot, is very hefty and can resist all front attacks. Their YYYYX hits enemies in a ''massive'' radius while sucking them in a vacuum, destroying the weakness gauge so quickly. Their YYYYYX can deal heavy Weak Point Gauge damage on its own to an enemy that doesn't even have it exposed, and is even better when used in Stasis setups. And then there's their unique action, where [[spoiler:Cotera]] can inflict a stacking, everlasting defense debuff on groups of enemies in front of her - the core use of this character. You can practically melt a boss by repeating this attack.

** Older Purah still has every bit of energy and eccentricity as her child self from the original game, and thus has gotten this reception too, leading to some fan miffed that she wasn't a playable character. [[spoiler: They got their wish with the ''Guardian of Rememberance'' DLC, where she's part of the dual Robbie & Purah character combo.]]
** Just like in the previous game, Zelda is just as cute as she was before. [[spoiler: And her younger version in her flashbacks is even more, and the only thing we get of this younger version is her voice, which is absolutely adorable, especially her little giggle when she finishes building Terrako.]]

** A sound inherited from the original ''Breath of the Wild'' game. [[spoiler: It's the soft ringing noise of Zelda's sealing power.]]

** Using Hestu in any story chapter past his introduction chapter results in added humor, due to a combination of him being the only non-secret character that doesn't appear in cutscenes (aside from a brief background cameo when [[spoiler: Hyrule's combined forces march on Calamity Ganon]]) after their introduction and having a really silly moveset.
** You can have Link wear his underwear in cutscenes, or have him wear helmets that obstruct his face, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs or both.]] So it's possible to watch [[spoiler: Zelda panic for Link's life as he fights off four Blight Ganons using a soup ladle and pot lid while in his underwear and wearing a really silly fish hat.]]

** In terms of characters, [[spoiler: Yunobo]] was the least popular of [[spoiler: the Champion successors]] in ''Breath of the Wild'' due to [[spoiler: his status as a CowardlyLion turning his respective Divine Beast boss fight into a glorified EscortMission]]. In this game however, [[spoiler: not only is Yunobo a competent warrior in gameplay, [[TookALevelInBadass he's become significantly braver and more willing to fight]] in-story despite retaining some of his lack of self-confidence, even thinking of ways to weaponize Daruk's Protection beyond just being used as a [[HumanCannonball Goron cannonball]]. While he's still a CowardlyLion, it does nothing to sour gameplay, putting more emphasis on the "lion" part of the trope. This character development also carries over into ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom Tears of the Kingdom]]''.]]

** With the release of the second DLC "Guardian of Remembrance", [[spoiler: Revali became seen in a more positive light by the fans, due to him revealing [[FriendToAllChildren a soft spot for kids in his interactions with Teba's son Tulin]] after he helped Teba rescue him. Fans were often commenting on how heartwarming his cutscene with Tulin was in the secret ending for the DLC.]]

** The [[spoiler: post-game]] mission "A Royal Investigation", which is necessary to [[spoiler:gather some of Terrako's parts]] has you play Zelda on the Great Plateau, specifically in the temple area. This wouldn't be so bad if you weren't fighting a series of five Lynels, including two Malice Lynels at once, in small interior areas; meaning you'll be prone to [[EventObscuringCamera camera issues]] and find yourself taking flight instead of dodging thanks to being too close to a wall. Don't bother trying to lure them out of the rooms either, since fighting them on the narrow bridges between forts is just as much of a headache. Add to this that this is a TimedMission, and if you aren't used to playing Zelda and if her character level and weapon aren't properly leveled, you are going to struggle.

** A lot of the [[spoiler: post-Ganon]] missions qualify. "Defending Akkala Citadel" starts out fine, you just have to capture three outposts. First two outposts are just Moblins, couple Wizzrobes, and a Hinox. Then you head to the last one, only to find out that ''six Malice Guardians'' are SWARMING the citadel, which is between you and the last outpost.

** Astor as a concept is interesting, being able to see into the future and working under Calamity Ganon. Unfortunately, his character and powers end up not being explained thoroughly, ending up with a rather flat character. Likewise, promo material for the ''Guardian of Remembrance'' DLC teased the introduction of an entire cult of Calamity Ganon loyalists alongside Astor. [[spoiler: They're all killed by Ganon's Malice in their introductory cutscene, and Astor simply walks away musing over Ganon's power and the Great Calamity]]. While ''Guardian of Remembrance'' shed some more light on the rest of the game's characters, Astor ultimately received no new characterization whatsoever.

* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler: Sooga, Master Kohga's badass right-hand man who stoically retorted Astor, sacrifices himself in order to save Kohga. Except he doesn't actually die, as the true ending reveals, and even ''becomes playable'' in the DLC add-ons.]]

** [[spoiler: The future champions time traveling 100 years ago to save the champions of this era was pretty unexpected, though some people figured that being the case after seeing the tapestry in the game's intro altered to have two figures on each divine beast.]]

** In terms of characters, [[spoiler: Yunobo]] was the least popular of [[spoiler: the Champion successors]] in ''Breath of the Wild'' due to [[spoiler: his status as a CowardlyLion turning his respective Divine Beast boss fight into a glorified EscortMission]]. In this game however, [[spoiler: not only is Yunobo a competent warrior in gameplay, [[TookALevelInBadass he's become significantly braver and more willing to fight]] in-story, even thinking of ways to weaponize Daruk's Protection beyond just being used as a [[HumanCannonball Goron cannonball]].]]

* FansPreferTheNewHer: While Purah was already an EnsembleDarkHorse from ''Breath of the Wild'', her popularity would increase exponentially thanks to her redesign in the game, which depicts her as a [[SheIsAllGrownUp far older looking and more attractive individual]] than her childlike design in ''Breath of the Wild''. Likely as a result of the design's popularity, ''Tears of the Kingdom'' would redesign her to be more similar to her ''Age of Calamity'' design instead of her original design from ''Breath of the Wild'' (handwaving the change as her having improved her anti-aging technology during the gap between games), which has caused her popularity to [[{{Pun}} grow]] even more.

** In the "Guardian of Remembrance" DLC, fans were caught surprised that one of the side-story missions involved [[spoiler:rescuing Teba's son, Tulin. When the mission info mentioned a lost Rito child bearing resemblance to Teba, many thought it was Teba's ancestor and didn't expect it to be [[SatelliteCharacter his overlooked NPC son]] from ''Breath of the Wild''. The impact of Tulin's sudden spotlight in ''Age of Calamity'' was so great that when ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' revealed that [[AscendedExtra Tulin would be the main Rito ally/champion]] for Link instead of Teba, [[EarlyBirdCameo many fans weren't so surprised thanks to this DLC]].]]

* MemeticBadass: [[spoiler:Teba is found to be such [[GameBreaker a ridiculously overpowered fighter]] that fans have claimed [[OneManArmy he could single-handedly defeat Calamity Ganon and his dark forces]]. This is also helped by the fact he's a [[BadassNormal just a skilled Rito archer]] rather than someone gifted. Many joked that the reason why Teba is replaced by Tulin as Link's main Rito companion in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' is because Teba would make the game too much of a cakewalk.]]

** Every character has enough good qualities that there's no outright terrible fighter in the roster, but to a casual player, [[spoiler: The Great Fairies]] may be seen as the worst character in the game due to being slow and large characters that hog the screen real estate. This means that they not only have ridiculously huge hitboxes, but also that it's hard to tell if you're even ''hitting'' most enemies since your character is blocking the view (and probably causing CameraScrew in the process), much see if foes are about to attack and if you should respond with a dodge or use a rune. Many claim to even have trouble beating their ''dedicated training mission''. That being said, [[DifficultButAwesome if you can adapt to all of this]], and your button press timing is on-point, they are an interesting high risk, high reward character with incredibly high damage output and can decimate bosses in seconds. Their guard, while incapable of deflecting a laser shot, is very hefty and can resist all front attacks. Their YYYYX hits enemies in a ''massive'' radius while sucking them in a vacuum, destroying the weakness gauge so quickly. Their YYYYYX can deal heavy Weak Point Gauge damage on its own to an enemy that doesn't even have it exposed, and is even better when used in Stasis setups. And then there's their unique action, where [[spoiler:Cotera]] can inflict a stacking, everlasting defense debuff on groups of enemies in front of her - the core use of this character. You can practically melt a boss by repeating this attack.

** The [[spoiler: post-game]] mission "A Royal Investigation", which is necessary to [[spoiler:gather some of Terrako's parts]] has you play Zelda on the Great Plateau, specifically in the temple area. This wouldn't be so bad if you weren't fighting a series of five Lynels, including two Malice Lynels at once, in small interior areas; meaning you'll be prone to [[CameraScrew camera issues]] and find yourself taking flight instead of dodging thanks to being too close to a wall. Don't bother trying to lure them out of the rooms either, since fighting them on the narrow bridges between forts is just as much of a headache. Add to this that this is a TimedMission, and if you aren't used to playing Zelda and if her character level and weapon aren't properly leveled, you are going to struggle.

* CharacterRerailment: As mentioned above, even if he’s still voiceless, fans were very happy to find Ganon is still an intelligent and proud chessmaster rather than a mindless beast.

** A popular [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/75/12/317512b9eb8a6832d618d43dbc11ff4d.jpg meme]] in which a time traveler from the future refers to ''Breath of the Wild'' as being a trilogy becomes surprisingly prescient given that BOTW has both an announced prequel and a sequel. And ''Age of Calamity'' even involves actual time travel.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheHeavy Astor]], aka the [[DarkMessiah Prophet of Doom]], was [[FromNobodyToNightmare born in a Hyrulean village]] and became obsessed with the power of Ganon. Becoming a self-styled prophet of Ganon and allying with the Yiga Clan, Astor plots to unleash the monstrous [[Characters/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamityGanonAndDarkForces Calamity Ganon]] on the world so it would either submit to his own twisted will or be destroyed. Astor makes several attempts on Princess Zelda's life to prevent her from unlocking the power that would seal Ganon away; rips the souls out of his own Yiga allies to empower his Blight Ganons; and even orders Ganon to devour the heroes in the final battle at Hyrule Castle to [[FameThroughInfamy fulfill his destiny as the man who brought forth this age of Calamity]].

* MemeticBadass: [[spoiler:Teba is found to be such [[GameBreaker a ridiculously overpowered fighter]] that fans have claimed he could single-handedly defeat Calamity Ganon and his dark forces all by himself. This is also helped by the fact he's a [[BadassNormal just a skilled Rito archer]] rather than someone gifted. Many joked that the reason why Teba is replaced by Tulin as Link's main Rito companion in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' is because Teba would make the game too much of a cakewalk.]]

* AssPull: [[spoiler: The future champions traveling back in time to save the original champions is a stretch for several people, considering that Terrako isn't even from the same time period as them.]]

** Related to the previous note, a lot of people have pointed out that the writting of the game as a whole feels like fan fiction in terms of quality, since it has a lot of tropes that are associated with that type of media[[note]][[spoiler:The whole story is essentially like a FixFic of the backstory of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', there are a couple of instances of AssPull in key moments, and even Terrako, while not a Self Insert character, many think he's written like a SpotlightStealingSquad OriginalCharacter]][[/note]]. However, the opinions on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing are kind of split, since supporters argue there's nothing wrong with having that evey once in a while, specially in a Spin-Off game; not to mention that the original ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' was exactly that ([[spoiler:although, unlike with ''Age of Calamity'', the marketing didn't try to obscure that part]]). Detractors, on the other hand, think that this game being a Spin-Off doesn't excuse the lacking writing, or that at the very least, they should have tried to find a more elegant way of being a crowd-pleaser.

** [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss The final battle against Calamity Ganon]] also seems to be in response to the lukewarm reception of the [[AntiClimaxBoss Calamity Ganon/Dark Beast Ganon boss fight]] from ''Breath of the Wild''. Rather than transforming into a half-dead, deformed spider monstrosity or an oversized boar, Calamity Ganon now assumes the form of a giant male Gerudo made of Malice and Guardian pieces, and because Zelda isn't holding him back like in ''Breath of the Wild'', he starts off as [[NoSell nigh-invulnerable]] despite the combined strength of the Champions and their allies.]]
** The [[spoiler: Blight Ganons all possess new looks that are more colorful and visually distinct from one another]], likely addressing complaints that [[spoiler:the Blights as ''Breath of the Wild'''s dungeon bosses]] all felt too similar with the justification that they are recently created and at their prime.

* SequelDifficultySpike: The demo indicates a much harder game than the first ''Hyrule Warriors''. You start off with a much lower heart count, Weak Point Gauges and Special Meters take longer to fill up, requiring greater reliance on runes, and experience no longer carries over if you lose and restart. Also, Very Hard mode is available from the start, allowing an even greater challenge. Doubly so if you used the "Zelda" control scheme in ''Hyrule Warriors'', as the "Warriors" control scheme is the only one available in this game and [[DamnYouMuscleMemory you'll likely end up wasting more than one special attack trying to dodge]].

* FansPreferTheNewHer: While Purah was already an EnsembleDarkHorse from ''Breath of the Wild'', her popularity would increase exponentially thanks to her redesign in the game, which depicts her as a [[SheIsAllGrownUp far older looking and more attractive individual]] than her childlike design in ''Breath of the Wild''. Likely as a result of the design's popularity, ''Tears of the Kingdom'' would use the ''Age of Calamity'' design instead of her original design from ''Breath of the Wild'' (handwaving the change as her having improved her anti-aging technology during the gap between games), which caused her popularity to [[{{Pun}} grow]] even more.

** [[spoiler:Revali's scene with Teba's son Tulin, with the latter expressing optimism in becoming a great Rito champion and mastering the Great Eagle Bow like Revali, with Revali expressing optimism in Tulin becoming master of the wind like him, becomes even more heartwarming in hindsight when it's revealed that Tulin is the descendant of the Rito Sage who fought alongside the first King of Hyrule 10,000 years ago, and Tulin ends up wielding the Great Eagle Bow after becoming the new Sage of the Wind.]]