This review contains spoilers
The ending cutscene is kind of insane, and almost convinced me to raise the game's score as a whole, great resolution.
However, I think most of the game outside of that is simply serviceable and its most original aspects, such as Link's wall traversal, are integrated well enough, but doesn't become more fun to do over regular exploring. The majority of the story feels very Nintendo-Directcore, for lack of a better phrase. The game's elevator-pitch gimmick revolves around paintings, and so the story will bend over backwards to make mention of the topic whenever possible regardless of the fact that it clearly services the gameplay above any particular story element.
And while I also respect the attempt to change up the item system with Ravio's trading system, but this just resulted in me grinding rupees as soon as I was able in order to actually own the items by and the dungeons just felt like they became a tolerable kind of busywork thereafter. I think a crucial aspect of the series' previous dungeons appeal is the setup and payoff of having to intuit when you'll have to use an item you don't have yet, and then solving previous rooms you've visited when you do. With the new system in place, it makes problem-solving more streamlined and I was less engaged in most of the game's puzzles as a result. It's cool that bombs and arrows are on a cooldown now though, that was nice of them.
Other than what I've outlined, it's fine and enjoyable most of the time, but it mostly doesn't stimulate me beyond the typical fun that's commonplace in Zelda.
What was with that Octo-Baseball minigame?
However, I think most of the game outside of that is simply serviceable and its most original aspects, such as Link's wall traversal, are integrated well enough, but doesn't become more fun to do over regular exploring. The majority of the story feels very Nintendo-Directcore, for lack of a better phrase. The game's elevator-pitch gimmick revolves around paintings, and so the story will bend over backwards to make mention of the topic whenever possible regardless of the fact that it clearly services the gameplay above any particular story element.
And while I also respect the attempt to change up the item system with Ravio's trading system, but this just resulted in me grinding rupees as soon as I was able in order to actually own the items by and the dungeons just felt like they became a tolerable kind of busywork thereafter. I think a crucial aspect of the series' previous dungeons appeal is the setup and payoff of having to intuit when you'll have to use an item you don't have yet, and then solving previous rooms you've visited when you do. With the new system in place, it makes problem-solving more streamlined and I was less engaged in most of the game's puzzles as a result. It's cool that bombs and arrows are on a cooldown now though, that was nice of them.
Other than what I've outlined, it's fine and enjoyable most of the time, but it mostly doesn't stimulate me beyond the typical fun that's commonplace in Zelda.
What was with that Octo-Baseball minigame?