TOTK is a general improvement over BOTW's design. I thought BOTW was okay, but it's additions of bland open world held me back.
TOTK's inclusion of the Sky Islands was amazing. I think the duality of the highs and Lows of the world give great verticality in exploration. I cannot say the same thing about the depths though. I personally thought the depths were bland and were generally uninspired (felt like zelda on "hard mode).
Exploration in this game is legit on steroids. I spent my first 20 hours not even doing any main quests. I got my paraglider 10 hours in because I was too invested in the world. The call of the wild (no pun intended) was so refreshing and I felt inspired by all of it.
However, I think the dependency on towers just makes the game wayyy too similar to other, lesser games, like the far cry series. With the discoveries, I also felt like there was a lot more to do (although the shrines were mega easy).
Combat was slick and smooth, and even with my underpowered weapons, I felt extremely powerful. I personally thought fusing was meh, and just a weird excuse to become "creative" and keep in durability.
Another BIG GRIPE: building. It's boring. I got really bored of it after 15 hours. It felt like a crutch, where I see the materials given to me and I already know what I have to build. The middle part of the game, when I actually started doing the story, really started to bore me out. It felt too much of a repeat of the last game. In fact, when the game isn't building off of the last game, it's just rehashing previous ideas that "worked".
It's a great game, but just something that feels ephemeral in its design.
TOTK's inclusion of the Sky Islands was amazing. I think the duality of the highs and Lows of the world give great verticality in exploration. I cannot say the same thing about the depths though. I personally thought the depths were bland and were generally uninspired (felt like zelda on "hard mode).
Exploration in this game is legit on steroids. I spent my first 20 hours not even doing any main quests. I got my paraglider 10 hours in because I was too invested in the world. The call of the wild (no pun intended) was so refreshing and I felt inspired by all of it.
However, I think the dependency on towers just makes the game wayyy too similar to other, lesser games, like the far cry series. With the discoveries, I also felt like there was a lot more to do (although the shrines were mega easy).
Combat was slick and smooth, and even with my underpowered weapons, I felt extremely powerful. I personally thought fusing was meh, and just a weird excuse to become "creative" and keep in durability.
Another BIG GRIPE: building. It's boring. I got really bored of it after 15 hours. It felt like a crutch, where I see the materials given to me and I already know what I have to build. The middle part of the game, when I actually started doing the story, really started to bore me out. It felt too much of a repeat of the last game. In fact, when the game isn't building off of the last game, it's just rehashing previous ideas that "worked".
It's a great game, but just something that feels ephemeral in its design.