Years later, Zelda fans remain convinced Breath of the Wild has so many Korok seeds because you were never supposed to find them all

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fans have come to the conclusion that you're not meant to find all the Korok seeds in the game.

Spend any amount of time roaming around Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, and you'll come across your fair share of Korok seeds. They're everywhere, in fact, and while gathering a healthy supply of them is easily doable, collecting every single one isn't a task for the faint-hearted. Moreover, as one Zelda fan recently pointed out – reigniting discussion about the overwhelming number of these things – it's probably not something the majority of players were actually expected to do. 

There are no less than 900 Korok seeds in total, and Twitter user CptAstro argues that such a large amount was added to the game "so that no matter where you went, you would find some," even if "you were never meant to find all 900." After all, Nintendo clearly felt that collecting just 441 Korok seeds is enough to max out Link's inventory space. If you happen to still be on the hunt for them, you're better off calling it quits there unless, of course, you're dead set on having a golden turd in your collection.

As fans will know, the reward for spending countless hours combing the landscape for every last seed is an item called Hestu's Gift, which is an entirely useless trophy that looks like a small golden poo. CptAstro reckons this utterly bizarre reward is a way of "discouraging more players" from pursuing this time-consuming and ultimately pointless endeavour, and their theory's become another water cooler discussion about Breath of the Wild's design philosophy. 

"I understand this completely," reckons another fan. "I get the Korok seed design philosophy, but as a completionist who gets hit by sweet sweet dopamine upon 100%ing games I really love, I know I'm going to want to collect every Korok seed, and I accept that I will probably be miserable lmao." 

They're in good company: "Some of us enjoy the pain of finding all of them all," says one masochistic player. 

One user argues that "the same people who say '900 Korok seeds is too much so they're bad' would be complaining even more if the game only had as many Koroks as you actually need for the upgrades because that way they'd be way less scattered around the huge map and harder to find." 

"It's literally implemented so the average player will consistently always have something new to discover and do, even if it's just a small puzzle," another agrees. 

The best summary of this argument may be: "Like any non-linear, open-ended game, Breath of the Wild is meant to be played for however long or short as you want," as one player put it. 

Letting players reap the benefits of Korok seeds without painstakingly hunting down every single one does fit nicely within Breath of the Wild's design. In an oddly similar way, the game technically lets you fight Ganon whenever you decide you're ready. Clearly the seeds were meant to be found, but players weren't expected to find all 900 unless they made it a self-imposed challenge. 

With Breath of the Wild follow-up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom set to launch later this month on May 12, and with Korok seeds confirmed to be making a comeback, it's interesting to see debates on this system still burning. Players are already mentally preparing themselves for another extensive treasure hunt in the sequel, so let's hope we get something better than golden poo for collecting them all this time.

Check out our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide for the best places to secure your copy of the highly anticipated sequel.