Finished it last night. I completed pretty much everything outside the Korok seeds.
I enjoyed it!
I'd give the first ~8 hours a 10/10 and the last ~30 hours a 7/10. That initial feeling of exploring and interacting dynamically with the environment was a blast. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the game evolved much after the initial hours. The only things that changed were the look of the terrain and increased enemy health and damage. Combat mechanics and world traversal mechanics were almost identical at hour 4 and hour 40, and the only thing that kept me going was my completionist habit. There were maybe five basic enemy types across 98% of the map, which is a shame since I looooved the moments when I encountered new enemies like Lynels and Hinoxs, or the moment when I finally learned to take down Guardians. But those moments were tucked between ~30 hours of the same stuff I encountered in the tutorial area.
Other major annoyances: low draw distance and occasional framerate issues, unmemorable story with a non-entity for a villain, terrible voice acting, and the same forgettable music on loop for 90% of the game. Other minor annoyances: repetitive shrines (so many tests of strength...), excessive weapon management, and occasional control frustrations when jumping and gliding.
I liked the dungeons. I agree with others who prefer the puzzle progressions of older games' dungeons, but I'm a sucker for giant creatures and enjoyed each one even if they were suuuper easy and short. A couple areas had memorable music. I liked the armor and horse systems. Minor NPCs were well-written and had fun side quests. Hyrule castle was neat. Loved the overall art direction.
Among 3D Zeldas I've played, I'd rank it behind Majora's Mask and Wind Waker, on par with Ocarina of Time, and ahead of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Despite BotW's "main thing" being the environment... I felt a greater sense of exploration and wonder with MM and WW. Despite being smaller and less dynamic, I just felt those worlds had more character.
Looking forward to whatever comes next, whether its DLC, a MM-style sequel, or something totally new.
