I’m pretty sure my thoughts are going to evolve a lot, so I want to record my early experiences for permanent reference.
Didn’t like the opening sequence. Being forced to walk alongside a sluggish NPC through featureless hallways while exposition gets dumped is the exact kind of game design I play Nintendo to avoid. Breath of the Wild’s tenets were self-driven exploration and discovery.
Garden of Time only furthered my pre-release fears of the game ultimately echoing BotW. Felt like an abridged, less realized Great Plateau. Use of new mechanics was fine, I especially enjoyed the rail riding, but you don’t get enough reason to play around with Fuse. They need to stop with these inconsequential Temples of Time, the name’s weight has never been respected since Ocarina of Time.
Dropping into Hyrule was discomforting. BotW very carefully crafted its early views of the world to give you a solid sense of direction. Here, skydiving means you can only take in a slice at a time, and I was going crazy trying to tell where I was and if I was truly looking at the same region as BotW. You land in what was deep Guardian territory the first time, adding to the unfamiliarity. I’m still unsure on how much has changed in distant areas. Where’d all the Sheikah landmarks go, by the way? Nobody in-game has acknowledged this.
Dropping into the deep underground for the camera sidequest is the first time I’ve felt the game is sequel-worthy. It seems to stretch across the entire world, with flora and fauna to match. Managing the darkness might get old, and the terrain has been fairly uninteresting albeit dangerous, but I’m hooked on the mystery of the lost cave peoples. I tried to follow some statues but didn’t want to hike across the entire map, which seemed likely to happen. Hearing some stomping and turning to see a giant frog monster RIGHT THERE was the first big thrill since BotW.
Some footnotes: THANK YOU for letting me drop weapons upon looting a chest. Pony Points sound like a good solution to BotW’s stable problem. Zelda being gone again seems like a big narrative mistake. Too much reused audio and materials for early-game. Still worried Ultrahand is gonna be impractical where unintended; have not felt compelled to use any building stations. Having fun, don’t get me wrong, but keep thinking ‘this could’ve been better.’
