After some cooking preparations, I was off to defeat Ganondorf. Since I had made the trip down earlier in my playthrough by accident, I had no qualms about skipping most of with flying vehicles. The final dive down to the boss arena set the mood quite nicely.

Before facing off with Ganondorf, we must deal with his army. The sages entrances were pretty cheesy but nonetheless I enjoyed seeing them come in. The hardest part of the gauntlet was actually being able to see things through all the sages running around in front of the camera. The lock-on here was especially annoying and caused me to take several hits.

The showdown with Ganondorf was great, and I prefer this over the Calamity Ganon boss from BoTW. Didn't expect him to perfect dodge my attacks, and I had to pay attention to how he was going to swing his sword. The 2nd phase is where really starts though, loved how the health bar just kept going. The fact he can break break your hearts really adds tension, there's some OoT technique incorporated into the fight with you being to deflect the dark energy orbs he shoots out back with the master sword. Genuinely regret that I was so overprepared because it robbed me of having a challenging and satisfying fight.

The dragon fight was likewise, an improvement over the beast from BoTW, though this was more focused on spectacle then being a proper fight. I had some trouble with Zelda not getting into the right position. Overall, an excellent final boss.

Now...that ending. I don't agree with the decision to bring Zelda back as it underscores the sacrifice she made to revitalise the master sword. Doesn't help matters that the means in which the game achieves this happy resolution feels pulled out of nowhere. Spirits have been a confusing facet of both titles, how does one become a spirit? and why do some persist longer than others? King Rhoam could assume a tangible physical form that could interact with the environment, can the other spirits do that? But relevant to the ending, how does Rauru return after supposedly dying at the beginning of the game? Was his essence residing in the arm? More importantly where on Hyrule did Sonia come from? This all feels improvised by the writers just so that they could parallel the scene where Link fails to reach Zelda, and sure; this is a powerful moment. However, having to break it's own rules to create moment just wasn't worth it. I didn't feel anything for either Rauru or Sonia's "Death", mainly because I didn't really know much about them, but also because they've already killed Rauru off twice before.

All that aside, I did enjoy my time with Tears of the Kingdom, despite my many annoyances with certain design decisions and disappointments in regards to other aspects. I've completed the majority of side adventures, but I still have over half the side quest left to do. Though, I've racked up 150 hours or so, feeling rather burnt out. I might return when I'm more keen, but for now this is where I'm getting off the Zelda train.

Explored the thunder sky islands, upset how barren most of it was. Real shame since it's probably the second largest archipelago behind the tutorial island.

After that I cleared out the remaining shrines and lightroots, 'The Right Roll' had me stuck for a bit, I tried all configurations of balls, until I realised the issue was in my 'roll' so to say. Got confused when I reached 119 shrines and couldn't see any obvious spots left on the map, turns out I missed the Ga-ahisas shrine ages ago, the door probably only opened after I did the puzzle and I never though to descend the staircase.

I then proceeded to find all of the 'Sage's Will', locating these wasn't too hard, but I was pit up against three King Gleemok's. I actually really like the fight, the last phase is especially hectic.

Now all there's left to do is find the treasure in the depths (DLC items from last game -_- ) do side missions, and face off against Ganondorf. Probably make it my priority next session.

Really became the ladies man of Gerudo Village today, but my eyes were only set on finding the 'Scimitar of the Seven', oh yes... 28 ATK + 44 ATK Lynel Horn multiplied by 2 with 'Strong Fusion'...yeah. Learnt some interesting stuff regarding the Gerudo, like the 8th 'heroine' was in actuality a man, but due Gerudo law he was barred from entering their town, damaging the relationship between the Gerudo & Hylians.

The build up to the Spirit Temple was more exciting then the "dungeon" proper, though I'd be hard pressed to consider it one. The puzzles revolved around working with the shape of the box containing the construct part and getting it out and over to the robot. None of which were hard or featured anything I haven't already seen, although I did experience a mind blank as soon as I entered the lava room.

The mech is cool in concept, however a let down in execution. Movement is REALLY slow unless you attach a fan which runs out way faster then it would usually so unless you're constantly dropping fans, it's not very resource efficient. I do like that weapons can be to the arms, and I can't deny gunning a hinox with dual cannon was fun. On that note though, cannons are probably too good at stunning, my strategy against the Seized Construct was to stun him a cannon and then give a few left hooks, which worked throughout the entire fight.

Just need to wrap up things like the shrines and lightroots now, and then I'll be ready to complete the game.

Zelda: "Fiend! What villainous plans do you have in store for Hyrule"

Ganondorf: "I'm going to get the Gorons addicted to meth!"

Zelda: "Oh...you truly are the most despicab- wait, what...?"

I sincerely hope we have devious Gorons stoned out of their mind in futures games because this was really funny. Yunobo all dripped out in his pro-wrestler attire, though I feel that getting the mask off him should have taken longer in order for it have more impact. Using the minecarts to travel around the lava-cooled slopes of Death Mountain was kind of sick, you make use of Yunobo to clear rocks in your path, one thing that was annoying though was during the battle with Moragia, he actually weighed down my wing causing me to have to fight against his weight.

The Fire Temple, much like the "Lightning" Temple felt way more cohesive compared dungeons in BoTW. While I wouldn't say the puzzles were particularly challenging or anything, I enjoyed switching tracks to reach new areas and the integration of Yunobo was on par with Tulin's usage in the Wind Temple. Found the Marbled Gohma to be excessively simple, though I am decked out so that's expected. However, I do wish some other element was added to the fight, because aiming along the wall isn't all that hard to do, managed to hit the legs on ceiling with 100% accuracy.

An area in which I feel this game misses the mark is in the story department, the non-linearity definitely accounts for this somewhat, but in general there's a lack of effort to work around it. This is most prevalent in how memories are incorporated into the narrative, Link KNOWS where Zelda is and that she turned into a dragon, yet never brings it up. It makes the section where you're tracking down Zelda infuriating because YOU know where Zelda is, which makes the 'Find Princess Zelda' quest seem very dissonant with what the player is doing. We already found her, but were still on this long fetch quest, while everyone yelling "Oh Hylia! I just saw Zelda, we NEED to get her!" as if we don't know that obviously isn't her.

Either way, Hyrule Castle was a gauntlet across the map. Eventually you end facing off against Phantom Ganon, before the Sages come and help. Snagged a Hylian shield at the docks before leaving.

First shrine I did was cool, had to freeze ice and melt it down to fit into the shapes. While I think the hint "born from water" was enough for the player to go off, the frost emitters by the shore kind of spoiled the solution. Still, this felt more justified to be 'Rauru's Blessing' compared to others. I know BoTW also had shrines that only housed a chest and sage, but they feel way more plentiful in ToTK. A significant portion of shrines (especially in the sky) require finding and delivering a crystal, which while the manner in which you acquire the crystal does differ between shrines, it gets monotonous after awhile.

Also infiltrated the Yiga Clan and learnt the bare-handed technique, will need to test next time.

What began as a humble search for warm safflina, ended leading me to both starting AND completing the Lightning Temple. I decided to bear the sand shroud on foot as my hover-bike would've just trivialised it. Sneaking into the Gerudo bunker and passing through, reunites us with Riju, and her ability is to channel lightning and call it down where ever your arrow lands. Now to bring up the elephant in the desert (wait, where it go?), the decision to not assign hotkeys to ANY of the companion abilities is absolutely trite. Not only do they constantly get in your way when you least want them, but when you DO want them, they're 10 metres away from you or on the other side of a goddamn fucking cliff. Riju's could've just been tied to ZR + A, since A isn't used for anything while your bow is drawn. Now sometimes you might want it to charge up while your attacking, so perhaps replacing the redundant map quick-select from the ability wheel with a 'call companion' sub-menu would've been ideal.

As for the dungeon itself, I liked this one, although I think 'Mirror Temple' would be a more fitting name, since the only instances of using electricity are for activating the tablet and harming gibdos. The puzzles themselves were decent and the dungeon felt slightly more cohesive, rather than separate trials spread throughout, you had to move around mirror's on the top floor to open doors on different levels (only 2 but hey, it's something). Queen Gibdo gave me some trouble during it's 2nd phase with all of minions, and maybe I'm a bad shot, but I just couldn't for the life of me hit the darn thing while flying. Initially I thought I could shoot an arrow underneath and they'd be caught in Riju's lightning, but to no avail. In the end I just fused a mirror to my shield and knocked them down with the light, sure I'll get a chance to correct my method on repeat encounters in the Depths.

Did all of the shrines in the desert afterwards and cashed in all my blessings for hearts. One mechanic used was blowing off sand with a fan, however, the shrine that stuck with me was 'Drifting Flame'. My solution was to trace the path of the torches with the candle and then use recall of it while stood on the button.

I wrapped up by sorting out the Cece Vs. Reede electoral campaign, which means I can finally wear my hood down, just like in the promotional material! Seriously what was the thought process behind locking this feature behind a multi-staged questline? Why not just make it a convenient option in the inventory screen? Why Nintendo!? WHY!?

Mostly flew around the depths brightening up the map, the lightroots have been very useful for finding the remaining shrines. Happened to stumble upon the Spirit Temple and Construct Factory but I couldn't do anything at either so I'm guessing it's story-locked.

I'm at last getting good pristine weapons from the Depths, I'll probably end up looking up a map of where to find all the higher tier stuff.

Thanks to both uncovering the 'Princess Zelda Sightings' for the Lucky Clover Gazette, and documenting all 12 sky murals, my money troubles are behind me (for now). I liked Penn, he was a fun side character during the questline.

For the entirety of my playthrough up until today; I'd avoided engaging too heavily with building stuff, outside of when necessary or at the sky isles / armouries that provide parts. Partially, because I didn't have the resources to spare, or felt like putting in the time for something that'll disappear shortly after making it, but also because I knew that it had the possibility to break the game. Of course, that possibility is part of the foundation for Ultra-Hand, unleash your creativity and do things in your own way, so arguably it's not a fault. However, I feel like it almost destroys the sense of journey all together.

Today, I decided that I would finally create some mode of aerial transport, and settled on the 'Hover-bike' that people were raving on about. With it, I managed to cover ground that would've taken upwards of five hours in under just one. You'd expect this kind progression as you get deeper into a game, but it felt like I was cheated out the experience of reaching these points. Now, you'd be right in saying:

"That's not on the game, but on you for taking the easy way"

I could've stopped if I wanted, but I didn't; my poor restraint caused me to cheapen my experience. But that's exactly why I was so concerned about engaging with the mechanic, because I knew it would turn out like this.

Though I was able to achieve a fair bit. The final confrontation with Kogha and his boxing robot was a little underwhelming, the 1st half is simple, just hit them off and go ham. But I got a little stumped during the 2nd half, my solution was to use recall on the metal balls he throws, though I couldn't figure out another means of breaking his barrier. After he blasted off (again), it was back to shrine hunting.

All the lightroots I uncovered came in handy finding many of the ones I'd missed. The most interesting one involved casting a shadow against a white shape on a wall to activate the shrine.

Replenished my meal stock, can't say I enjoy cooking all that much. They've added some 'QoL' improvements, but it just isn't enough. You can select previous recipes, except you'd better hope you don't have too many of that ingredient because your shuffling through ALL of them to get to what you want. It's also annoying how the result is blind, sure I get it wants you to experiment and write this down yourself, but understanding all the various rules and knowing what cancels out what is just too overwhelming and involves far more time then I'm willingly to invest.

Actually progressed in the main story after...40 hours? Sidon is an absolute beast, creating a whirlpool all by himself. Though the hype unfortunately didn't carry over to the Water Temple, which I found rather lacklustre, it's fairly small and the mechanics aren't all that interesting. The "dungeon" revolves around using water-orb dispensers, you can adjust the direction that they go with ramps and you can even fuse them to weapons. The Mucktorok boss was more of a nuisance then anything, admittedly I'm rocking up with fully enhanced armour so it's given I found them easy. The hardest part was dealing with the FPS drop during the 2nd phase, crisp 15 frames there. You spend the majority of the "dungeon" unaccompanied by Sidon which kinda sucked.

After rescuing the Zora, I warped back to the Korok Forest and played treasure hunt with a korok. I overthought the whereabout, climbing each tree branch, and searching every tree (technically not on the ground!), only to find it hidden in the most obvious of places. I spent 40 minutes here.

Had another run in with Kogha, now just one final showdown to settle things. I thought I was done with upgrading my batteries, but I realized that there was another bar to fill, though to be honest I'm really building many contraptions that warrant that amount of energy.

Against my better judgement, I bought a house plot. Honestly a little underwhelmed by the building, I wasn't expecting much but the modular style is very limiting, which considering the vast possibilities of Ultra-hand is unfortunate. At least I have somewhere to store my special items now.

Took the rails up to Death Mountain and stumbled upon the Rock Octoroks. I relied heavily on them to continuously repair my 'Strong Fusion' spear. Was quite taken a back by the sheer size of one the lava caverns, just when I thought I'd hit the end, it would open up to another room.

Explored Hyrule Castle at last and got the 'Champion Leathers' and some better gear. The royal passage connecting the bottom portion of the castle and Lookout Landing was rather bomb expensive.

After that I set off to the Korok Forest, this lead to my first battle with a Gloom Hands / Phantom Ganon, which due to having any gloom recovery items meant I was pretty low by the end. I regret not leaving obtaining the master sword until later since it was hassle afterwards trying to track it down for materials. The sequence of you acquiring the sword though is really cool, seems like you'd need a minimum 5 stamina upgrades to pull it out.

Did over a dozen shrines and most played out similarly to the others, the one surprise though, was the fake Rauru's Blessing. Wish it went on longer but still a welcome shakeup. Finished the last of the labyrinths, really should continue the story now...

Having helped send Maddison off the Gerudo village, I was presented with the opportunity to buy a house; but my hopes were quickly dashed when I realized it cost my entire wallet. My money troubles don't end there though, because even with the diamonds I've got to sell, it still isn't anywhere near enough to purchase all of the armour pieces that cost 1000+ rupees. Aren't I the hero to save Hyrule? Yet I must pay like a commoner!? Not even an 'honorary hero' discount!? Alas, perhaps this is why so many pieces share effects so you can find a set as opposed to having to buy one.

Finally uncovered ALL of the map, now I can poof practically anywhere. Many of the shrines in the south-western part of the map revolved around using mirrors to reflect light, on that note I really like how vast the array of Zonai technology is. Hydrants are honestly just a better form of cryosis besides being more janky. Another new mechanics introduce was quicksand(?) forcing me to bridge across and use vehicles.

Went shrine hunting across the eastern side of the map, lots of variety between each of them. The standouts for me were: the one where you play Jenga™, the race track with ramps and dotted with constructs, and another that shrouds you in darkness requiring using a Zonai technology to light your way.

Find the rewards for completing the sky labyrinths to being rather lacklustre, you can't even upgrade the gear so besides aesthetics there isn't any value to them as far as I can tell. Granted, you find a lot of chests with good items while traversing the labyrinths, and I ended up leaving most behind because my inventory was full, so I suppose it's not entirely a waste of time.

Beyond that, I decided to progress the story a little, visiting the Zora Domain and meeting up with Sidon...then I got sidetracked once again. Finally figured out how to get milk; I hadn't gone into Cece's shop so none of the town's NPCs would give me sidequests. I can already picture some people flocking to Twitter, and drawing parallels between the "Democrats vs Republicans" debate and "Team Cece or Team Reede" election.

Have to wonder if there was an appointed job position for just adding caves across the map and filling every well (not very effective wells mind you). Some are small, but others are quite large, one I did today seemed tiny at first but then opened into a much larger cavern.

Felt confident to take on the pirates occupying Lurelin, stealth-striked most of them to conserve on weapon durability. At this point I've accumulated enough resources to be able to have 30 - 40 damage weapons available at all times. Then commenced the reconstruction of Lurelin village, with the most lengthy portion being the log collection. This was on me for trying to carry too many on a vehicle and in the end I decided to just carry it ultrahand back to Bolson.

From there, it was back to shrine hunting and filling out the map, hitched a ride on Naydra through the depths and managed to cover a lot of ground.

I then explored the eastern side of the map and was overwhelmed by all the shrines in open view. My favourite involved building up an army of miniature tanks.

After spending longer than I'd like to admit looking for local pyromaniacal flutist Pyper, it was off to find sunset fireflies to impress his crush. I did some other stuff to keep me busy until night came, including taming a huge stallion which I appropriately named 'B.F.P' (Big Fucking Pony). When night fell, I guided Haite, perhaps the least athletic NPC in all of Hyrule, to watch Pyper's little show. Finally content, he decided to return to his troupe, and with that I'd reunited all of the 'global trotters'.

But before going to see their last performance, I went and explored some of the emptier spots on my map. Stumbled across an apple tree hill, a.k.a 20fps hill; the shrine nearby is 'Missing Pathways'. I want to discuss this one in particular because it highlights how the abilities of TotK mesh together. You first use ultrahand to lift an object up, ascend to a higher vantage point to get on top of the block; use recall to move it to the point where it was raised, and then use ascend once more to reach the platform above. This amount of combination is much broader than BotW, and is a huge improvement.

Back to the troupe, now called the 'stable gallopers', give their final performance to the great fairy and provides me access to the maximum level of clothing enhancements. From there I spent the rest of my session helping Penn sought out the mysterious and latest news at the stables.

Explored the south-western portion of the depths today. Encountered a coliseum and figured I try my skill, it was only when the 3rd lynel came out did I realise that perhaps I was unprepared, didn't have gloom-recovery items so I got screwed. I cut my losses (reloaded), and went back to exploring, got plenty of Zonaite and 'scheme stones' which justified the journey. During my travels, I once again ran into Kogha, and of course a boss fight ensued. This was even easier than the last time, just used a spring to reach him throughout the entire fight and it worked just fine. Decided I wasn't quite finished exploring so went further, and things got rather hairy down below, especially since I kept running into Krox's which depleted me of my weapons, food, and hearts.

After that I returned to the safety of the surface, and completed more shrines. The standouts were the mountain sled shrine and golf shrine. It was during that very shrine that I was reminded at how good a job the game does at telling you need to do without explicitly saying it. The shrine title, 'Long and Wide' is the answer to the last part where you need to move the slab horizontally to be in line with the cart. Another instance of this was at one of the towers, you arrive to discover the doors are jammed, a Rito on the outside tells you he wished had gotten more mushrooms from the cave below, which clues you in on the solution. But, the game let's the player figure out that they need to use 'ascend' to get into the room on their own.

Made it a point to cook more food, and have gloom-recovery meals handy for the next time I plunge into the Depths. Still not sure where I get certain ingredients like milk, but I'm trying to play through as blind as possible.

Helped the 'Stable Trotters', spent at least 30 minutes trying to get their carriage to float.

Got back at Zelda's gold horse and tamed it.

Finally gotten a hold of how your suppose to fight the big constructs. For all this time I'd used arrows to shooting the damageable block, but you can pull it out and lay waste. Before this session, I always struggled when they became a platform and threw blocks. It was only today I realised you need to use recall while standing on one of those blocks.

Returned from hiatus; took a brief moment to reacquaint myself. Then, I helped put the eyes back in the statue below where I obtained auto-build.

Because of the ease of using towers to cross large distances, I haven't actually explored much of the surface since I just fly over everything.

More shrines...

After shrine hunting for awhile I stumbled upon the temple of time which then led me to finding 'Auto-build'. Definitely a great asset, though my frequency of building stuff will depend on my resources.

Surprise encounter with Kohga, not particularly hard, although I had a tough time getting the last hit in. Too be honest, I'm not sure what to do next, I would like to have batteries to power my zonai builds, but I've probably postponed the story long enough.

Lots of cool shrines today, the new mechanic introduced was shifting gravity.

Set off to dispel the blizzard resting over Rito Village...and maybe got a liiiiit-tle sidetracked along the way. Every time I got higher in the sky, another shrine or object of interest would come into view and I thought to myself:

"Well...it's pretty close, I'll just glide over and teleport back when I'm done."

During said glide over something else would catch my eye and further lengthen divergences. The shrines remain my favourite part of the game, one I did was an obstacle course with lasers; another involved melting ice, great variety overall. Combat trials are still fairly lame, but I did at least come across a shrine that stripped me of my gear and actually required to me to consider my plan of attack.

Either way, I did eventually reach the Wind Temple. The journey up to the dungeon was great, really liked how they reworked AI companions, Tulin helps by creating gust of winds, similar to Revali except more horizontally. Now for the big question, did I think this was better than the divine beasts? Yes, but still not quite the level of "traditional" Zelda dungeons. Made good use of the abilities and didn't rely too heavily on a gimmick, however, I don't get the same sense of progression as from dungeons in prior entries. The general structure (for this temple, it could be the same for all of them) has you finding 5 locks to unlock the boss. 3 of these locks were really easy to get and while the other 2 required more effort, still felt kind of anticlimatic. Thankfully I wasn't pit against calamity ganon, though the boss was underwhelming.

We get some insight into the past and hints that Zelda's playing a role in affecting the present. Tulin gets his 'secret stone' (it sounded weird them saying this) clipped around his leg, kind of seems like an inconvenient spot but whatever.

Time to play 'Where's Zelda!', do hope that we at least get some interactions between Link and Zelda later on in the story and not have their reunion be the only time directly meeting outside of the opening.

After getting my paraglider back, I mostly explored the northwest portion of the map and took a brief dive into 'The Depths'. Really wish I didn't need to select the lightbloom seeds every 10 steps.

Found my first couple Dragon Tears, and honestly I find this less interesting to find then the memories in the prior game. Most of the time you can pretty easily find the pond by just running around for a bit. Also:

"Link, his strong, courageous, brave and of good heart."

Meanwhile I'm mounting Korok's to rockets and launching them into the stratosphere.

On that note, my biggest complaint is that your builds vanish if you stray even just a little too far away or when a cutscene triggers. I'm not sure whenever this is the fault of the outdated hardware or an intentional design choice, but it really discourages me putting time into making vehicles since I'll only have it for 10 minutes tops before having to part.

The result of adding GMod to the base formula of 'BotW'. Of course the ominous mural was covered by boulders; shame Link didn't pull out his bombs! Separated from Zelda (again) and left with but 3 hearts it's off the 'Great Sky Islands'. This serves as the tutorial stage akin to the 'Great Plateau'; I think I spent far longer here just playing around with ultrahand which is basically magnesis but now with super glue.

QoL improvements are welcome, but I find the omission of convenience elsewhere perplexing. Arrow types have been replaced with the ability to fuse any material to an arrow for different effects. In order to attach materials to an arrow, you need to open the quick menu and select it. Each. Time. While not as annoying in puzzle rooms where the usage is situational and one-time, it's a nuisance in combat and interrupts the flow. The lack of reworks to the melee combat are probably my complaints at the moment since that was most lacklustre part of 'BotW'. I know the combat's more based around your knowledge of the game's rules and that the bulk of it's depth lies in the interaction between the player's abilities / items and the environment, but flurry rush is too powerful of an option for so little required that simplifies most one-on-one encounters.

Though I've really enjoyed the new range of powers Link has. Creating abominations of science is fun, and 'Rewind' allows me to essentially create elevator anywhere. Favourite shrine currently is the once involving the construction of hot-air balloons.

I wonder if it's become a mandate at Nintendo to include at least some gacha element to their games because both 'Link's Awakening' and XC3 featured gacha machines to get items.