That said, it's not all bummers! In Sky Island, you encounter caves--which are a fabulous addition to the landscape, so much so I was confused in my re-replay of BOTW when they weren't there--and the Zonai gacha machine, which are fun and addictive (and underused). #reTOTK
The same way I wish Nintendo had just used built out the horses into their own sequel/DLC, I'd jump at the chance to play a TOTK DLC where everything is accessible by gacha, with different gacha only taking different items. It'd be fun as hell. #reTOTK
And this, I suspect, is a topic that will come up in the re-playthrough: how much the devs built TOTK to be "fun as hell" for a certain type of player, and how the gacha is one of the most successful areas at crossing over between that type of player and me. #reTOTK
OK, day two! (1) argh, I forgot how much more this game keeps you on leash--I didn't go to see Purah so I don't have the glider so I'm just dying all over the place. (2) But they kept the jaunty piano music when you're riding the horse. Can't mess with perfection. #reTOTK
Day three! Got the glider but wow do they put you through useless fetch quests before they give it to you…and all for a (not especially interesting) cut scene plot point. Boo. #reTOTK
But boy does the game get much more fun once you can survive fucking around! I successfully got to a sky shrine, explored a bunch of caves, and even, uh, beat my first Phantom Ganon?! #reTOTK
That last bit still kinda floors me because I only have four hearts, 1.66 stamina wheels, and no major weapons. 100% the kind of thing I could only do by dropping 500 hours into the game when it came out. #reTOTK
I mean, in my replay of BOTW, I also won a fight with two guardians where a yiga archer and three skeleton critters also showed up…but that was late game. I haven’t even been to the Depths yet in TOTK! #reTOTK
In a way, it’s a tribute to the gameplay philosophy of TOTK (and also BOTW): whichever play style suits you best, you can win with it. But it also leaves me wondering, just a bit, if #reTOTK is gonna underwhelm on a playthrough. Fleeing those fucking hands the 1st time thru was scary & great!
More #reTOTK observations: I wonder if the Master Mode DLC for BOTW was super-successful? Because (a) I’m dying *a lot* y’all and (b) every fourth shrine is “we took away all your stuff; now use your wits to defeat a half-dozen armed enemies.”
Also of note: I’d bet money BOTW was the first release on Switch 1.0 and TOTK was supposed to be the first on Switch 2.0 because on 1.0, TOTK is wheezing, frame-rate addled mess. #reTOTK