Its autistic but I cant stop playing TOTK as if it were Pokemon Snap. I kind of did it in the last one but Ill get like cool poses or ;artistic' pictures for the compendium and I kind of wish the resolution were better and you could fuck with it more. And store more photos.
That said, I also cant stop just exploring and ending up doing quests or finding caves without even getting them, and feeling like Im kinda missing out. I came across some Gerudo under a pink tree that said something about them leading to treasure or something I saw the thing for the apple and put one in and the blue dog came and lit up a bunch of caves. I did a bunch of them in the Rito area because I was putting off the main quest since I cant stand the look of the Rito in this game--they look too much like deviantart OCs even though I remember not minding in BOTW.
Now that I finished the real boss dungeon. there are quests like 'in the middle of the 3 springs is some ancient rito treasure' and I come back to Rito Village after finishing the boat, and talk to someone and they go 'oh I was gonna tell you this legend and give you the quest but you already have the treasure wow youre so cool!' I was going 'wait I already did the cave in one hot spring and shrine in the other and didnt really see the 3rd, I didnt even find it how did I finish the quest? The two treasures were lame, the Vah Medan helmet was in this random other place--ooh it meant PHYSICALLY in the middle of the 3'. So I would have had to puzzle over it since the wording is leading you that way, but I already solved it and it was almost a blue balls kinda thing.
People say the plot is aimless and disjointed and it is, but I think thats in part because theyre trying to shove in a lot of plot guidance and gatekeeping while keeping it 'go wherever, do whatever', so you can end up doing the shit out of order. People said BOTW had no plot, and it kind of did but it fit better because you COULD do whatever, but it still led you on a path with enemy strength and and what skills and weapons you can use and shit. Here since you can ride into the sky or go underground you can get around 'plot obstacles' like infinite rain or too tall mountains/too wide gaps if you have the skill or stamina or items.
Other people say the shrines suck and they kinda do, theyre easy and have a few ways of doing it, basically 'right way' or 'creative/hard/breaking it', but I kind of like it that way. I found ts more fun to not look at much discussion or spoilers of how other people are playing it, the shrines are basically a tutorial of 'hey heres a few ways you can use the skills the game gives you' so as you slowly complete more, you also naturally slowly get better and more creative with the skills and see how they want you to use them with the zonai tools they give you. I think its a good progression.
