Christopher Gawiak

Almost feels like botw was a beta for totk. Totk had a lot of what I wanted from botw... a fuller world, more combat, more reasons to collect dead monster parts, and greater enemy variety. Both games have their flaws and strengths, and it's almost like the two games could have been fused together to make a perfect game. Final boss fight was miles beyond botw, though I do miss the elemental threat of calamity Ganon, and i still felt I had over-prepared for it. Enemies were much stronger than in botw, but that stopped mattering after I started fusing moster parts to my weapons and got my first armor upgrade. I also miss the sphincter-clenching piano twinkle that signaled the presence of a guardian nearby. The gloom hands are terrifying to be sure, but feel like a cheap replacement. And though I loved the dungeons, I missed the 3d maps and desolate feel of the divine beasts. Shrines were as sterile, one track, and hit or miss as botw, and I found myself not even bothering to find them all before facing off against Ganon. My biggest disappointment with totk was the depths. There's really only one quest down there, and once it's done there's not much to do in that whole third of the map. Such a shame considering the potential and vastness of the map. Sky islands were okay, but I was expecting a bit more from them, considering their focus in the marketing. Ultrahand and autobuild felt completely wanted for me. Though they're useful tool, I found I preferred to play without them, as they felt cheap or clunky to use in most situations. The sage abilities overall felt like a downgrade from the champion abilities in botw, both in terms of utility as well as usability. Overall, not a bad game. Fixes some problems from botw, but doesn't tread enough new ground to feel worth it. Feels a bit more linear than botw, but it's a good continuation of the formula, however flawed it may be.