You haven’t had to rescue Zelda much in the past 25 years.
In Ocarina of Time, Zelda was a badass ninja warrior that was constantly helping you.
In Majora’s Mask, Zelda didn’t appear.
In Wind Waker, Zelda was the leader of a gang of pirates. She had their respect and undying loyalty despite all being twice her size, because of her toughness and bravery. IIRC she actually kills Gannon in this one by bouncing an arrow off Link’s shield.
I don’t remember Twilight Princess enough to speak on that one, tbh.
In Skyward Sword, you think you’re saving Zelda, but she’s actually totally fine the whole time. She’s working with a Sheikah to restore seals to prevent Demise from returning.
In BotW, Zelda is fighting Gannon for 100 years (!!!) to buy time while Link sleeps and then later cooks food in his underwear.
In TotK, Zelda makes the ultimate sacrifice, trading her humanity to give Link a chance to beat Ganondorf. She makes herself immortal, but trades away her individuality and ability to think. She spends eternity crying because of what she lost to give Hyrule hope. I think she’s particularly brave in this one.
Zelda has not been a damsel in distress for a very, very long time. Both Zelda and Link play critical roles in saving Hyrule. Their roles are just different. Link saves Hyrule with a sword. Zelda saves Hyrule in other ways. Their roles are different but equally necessary.
I eventually stopped played RS3 because I was really frustrated with the slow pace of development. They would constantly announce new features only to cancel them years later because they were too hard to implement. Their excuse was always that the engine was too old.
This new game has a completely new engine. It doesn’t have 20+ years of tech debt. It (hopefully) isn’t held together by rubber bands and paperclips like RuneScape is.
I’m seriously distraught. I’m normally not the kind of person that cares when famous people die, but it’s so upsetting to think about the huge hole that will be left behind. No one can do what he does. No one can replace him. He was still working on Dragon Ball. We will never get more Toriyama content for Dragon Ball. The last time they tried doing Dragon Ball without him, it was GT.
Toriyama was probably the most influential manga author/artist of all time. He made a massive impact on my life. My wife and I bonded early over our love for Dragon Ball, so it’s a very important part of our relationship. We have traveled far and wide to meet the voice actors (bother English and Japanese) at conventions so many times. We have SO many things signed by the voice actors. So much our lives have revolved around Dragon Ball.
AND THAT’S JUST DRAGON BALL. He worked on so many other things.