Voe.

Did the fire dungeon! Really cool. Had a blast finding silly ways to do things. Hell of a game, this.

You read that right! ZELDA.

Left this at a shrine that confused me, opened up a month later and solved it instantly.

It do be like that.

Then, found Goron city and have started that quest line, which had a fighter plane boss battle??!!! Controlled annoyingly but I love how they keep these digressions within the language of the game’s core mechanics. Testament to what an emergent space they’ve created.

That time you fight in your underwear because Zelda told you to is a good mission.

Alright. I’m going to finish this game.

Couple of hours of shrine based exploration. Fun vehicle shrine; silly stealth attack shrine (a waste, really). As always, the moments in between stun.

The water temple was great. Controls still fiddly but fun and intuitive puzzles. Boss cool. Splatoon.

Then did a great shrine where you put weapons on roombas. This game is so good and it’s been too long.

Caves and some geoglyphs!

And then, the journey to the water temple. Good quest line, fun ascent and I quit at the top when the actual ‘dungeon’ started.

That village is cool. I have things for my pad now, including the hero’s path. Some shrines, some walking. Some quest tying off.

Back to it! Unlocked two fairies among some lovely exploration. This game is very good.

…

Later that day:

So much. Freed that village from pirates; did Eventide island (really liked these as combat challenges and a good stripped of gear shrine was done also); cured Deku tree and now I have the master sword. Ended by finding that village in the east.

Gleeful exploration, some fun combat and a shrine. Though did go seek out this underground ruin that seemed to just be… Nothing.

Some questing in the depths: very fun. Yigha clan or whatever. Then just finding cool stuff on the main map. Good shrines, cool caves and finished at the Mario Sunshine level that is the Zora town.

Just a quick burst to unlock a sky tower, which got me to a sky island… to be explored later.

I found Kakariko village, ended there. Some shrines and some exploratory fun. Unfocused vibing. Good stuff.

Finished the Wind Temple, which was okay. Clever use of done mechanics but a bland boss and a better approach than area itself. Story light stuff… I crave dungeons.

And then I cheesed a shrine that I have no idea how to actually solve. Had silly times on sky islands making floating platforms. Cheated the ground maze, did the sky maze and died a lot in the depths maze.

Back to shrines and two more health upgrades

After a week off due to busyness, I’m back. Korok balloon madness, fun bouncy shrines, the ascent to the wind temple (very cool) and some pretty mind blowing (blowing, get it?) moments in the temple itself. 4 gates down?

30 hours in, it is time to do a main quest. Rito village is cool. I did the quest that took me up the mountain. Kinda straight forward but pretty.

Have the full miner armour, had fun in depths. Met daddy korok and finally have slots. Spent all my koroks. I have two batteries now…

Ended at my first village, about 30 hours in. Rito village time!

It turns out those hearts in the depths map onto shrines… game changer.

I’m a journalist now, I saved some sheep and everything. Finished on another Tear.

I love the depths. I found a cool plague doctor style mining hat, found a dragon down there and road it sll the way up to the surface and across the world. Then some high stakes climbing. Who uses paths when it’s do fun to puzzle your way up perilous cliffs?

Got a Tear in and ended at another, to be watched next time.

Always uncovering brilliant things. More cool stuff in the depths. Some great shrines. Lots of killing those ninja folks and killed a few Hinox fellas also.

So much today. Mad flying devices for crystals. Exploring via light up monster truck in the depths… and the depths. So much down here. Factories??? Madness.

Things despawning on reloads SUCKS.

Discovered the depths. Had some creative combat fun… Discovered that recall and ultra hand interact and, well, that’s everything.

Had a lot of fun making a stupid bridge, bringing it into a cave and using it to traverse a slippy cave I otherwise couldn’t get around.

Also got a horse, called it Vaughn… then sold them.

I have another horse now, Vaughn II.

At the recommendation of a friend, after exploring the town I did the first quest before I went off and did my own thing.

Still found fun on the path. I enjoy the ‘hold up a sign’ mini missions, and I went into Hyrule Castle and got destroyed.

Really enjoying weapon crafting; gives something nice to do with resources and you can get some very cool looking weapons early on.

This definitely holds up a bit of sequel pace by giving you access to cooler things earlier. Maybe it’s more that the new powers are so much more open ended in applicability, or have clearer use cases outside of puzzles. But having the glider this early is nice.

Which means, yes, I know how towers work now. I glided from one tower to a mini sky island and from there to another tower.

Now… a pinball shrine.

[…]

Much later on in the day:
Several shrines down and two health upgrades. I’m wrestling with being underpowered and knowing a lot of content will just be easier later (like the Hinox fight I ended on). But having a ton of fun. Combat can be really open ended in more accessible ways than before.

My highlight was subverting a shrine where they wanted me to make a raft by making a super long and super stupid bridge.

Completed the opening zone and am now in Hyrule. At this stage, it is only the tiniest bit deflating to go from a brand new area to a known one; though, I’m sure the game will do things with rediscovery (I did climb a tower and it seemed to do nothing… which wasn’t the best end to my play session).

The opening area is incredible, though. It feels like you are carving your own path and like the possibility space is so wide, while actually being stealthily very clearly guided. The systems are so open that interaction feels like discovery. Smart design means the way that makes sense is actually the way to go, so you stumble naturally upon a well hewn critical path.

The new abilities are so cool, and it already feels like an expanded and more open experience. They are also welcomingly silly. I giggled as I attached sticks to sticks and stuck crates on the end of swords.

The interface and controls have their rough edges (a quick menu that won’t let you use items is very annoying) but the overwhelming positives drown out small quirks. I’m also amazed at how good this looks and how well it runs.