I beat this last night. Below are my thoughts. Sorry, its going to be a long one.
To preface, Legend of Zelda is what began my lifelong gaming hobby. I had played my brothers NES off and on, and while Super Mario Bros. was OK in short sessions, the first time I played the original Zelda on the NES, I knew this was going to be something that was going to stay with me forever.
Going through the console generations, a LTTP was my favorite game of all time. Until now. I never really felt the same about the 3D Zeldas the way I did the original and ALTTP. I always yearned for that open world feel, and while OoT was open world, the graphics/engine really didn't stick with me the way the 2D Zelda titles did.
Seeing BOTW in the initial trailer in 2014, I immediately picked up a Wii U. I dabbled in replaying Skyward Sword, and WW HD (my favorite of the 3D Zelda titles), but all that was in my head was the initial trailer for BOTW. Once the Switch version was announced, I quicky put my money down and opted for that version.
Long story short, I had high expectations. I can honestly say, this is the game I have wanted since my 7 year old self played Zelda on the NES. I have put over 150 hrs in, and thought about doing a 100% run, but I know I am going to want to play through this again, so I stopped short of doing so. I finished with 95 shrines, a handful of side quests and shrine quests to complete on my next run. Here are my bullet point thoughts:
-I know some wanted traditional "dungeons". To me, the entire overworld was the main dungeon. However, I do think the 4 divine beasts were lacking a little in variety. They all felt the same, minus the puzzles. It would have been nice to have 4 main "dungeons", each with a weapon that you need for the guardians/Gannon.
-The graphics were jaw dropping good. I just started HZD, and while I appreciate the visuals, BOTW really stood out to me. Looking across vistas, seeing death mountain from the Great Plateau, I really appreciate the grand scope of how the world was created. At any point, you could make out distinct roadmaps and markings to guide your path.
-The story was OK, but we all know this game was about the journey, not the destination. A little more at the end would have been nice, but since we know we have DLC coming, hopefully its a good epilogue to the story. There were little snippets that you had to pick up on (The Kings diary for one) that filled the gaps.
I now feel like I have an empty spot in my life, as odd as that sounds. I had this with Witcher 3 as well, I did not want this game to end. In fact, there were a few times I thought about just starting over again just to delay the later stages in the game. Anyone else have this feeling?
I'm going to try master mode next, but I may hold off for a little bit just to let experience I had sink in. This has been a big part of my weekend rituals since its launch in March, going to be a tough void to fill.