I've given TOTK a fair shake. 95 hours in and at this point it just feels like a chore. Still too many repeated and easy boss fights. Still too many samey locations (the sky and the depths are such disappointments after a couple hours). Still too many repeated chores disguised as "content". All glued together with an admittedly innovative but extremely limited building mechanic. And don't even get me started on that excuse for a story...makes BOTW look like William fucking Shakespeare.

I do think the main story dungeons were quite an improvement but these BOTW era games have a serious bloat issue. I guess that's what gamers want these days. They need 'things to do' to keep their thumbs busy and the dopamine rushing. Quality be damned.

I'm a little sad that this is obviously the direction 3D Zelda will take based on the sales and general reception. It's not even an issue of traditional items alongside traditional dungeons for me. I love the ideas of ultrahand, ascend, and fuse. The problem for me lies that 3D Zelda has gone from neat, curated experiences with a strong emotional core in their simple narrative to sprawling, unfocused sandboxes with little focus or reverence to its story or quality of worldbuilding and NPC interactions. That works for a lot of people but it rubs me the wrong way.

I suppose I can only wait till the next top-down installment and hope that doesn't get BOTWified.