Oh, physics consistency is whole another topic, I was thinking of resource depletion specifically when mentioning internal consistency.

I get that lot of people don't like messing too much with that, but for me that is one of the pillars of exploration games. Some devs decide to incorporate none of the mechanisms, some just a few (like BotW/TotK has), and some right about everything. In the end it mostly boils down to what their target audience is. Personally, I think that both BotW and TotK could've had some more of that (like "Magic" not being completely free and some others I might talk about in the future), but that's me.

And this is not using any glitches. The combat in these games can be simple or it can be the most complex in any game. It is your call.

Just watched the videos. looks cool, although i don't remember really using anything of those things cause the challenge was so minimal in BOTW after 20 hours or so.  I bought the game but won't be able to play for a month. playing link between worlds for the first time and what a great game, have Elden ring coming tomorrow and a TOTK after i finish that.  Gonna be great few months of gaming for me.

Finally had my first step in Hyrule. From a bird eye view, it certainly looks like the mapping is most similar but there are parts from where I'm standing I can't recognize anymore which is a good thing and a bad thing for my sense of direction. Got to my first shrine on land .... And I found what I can only refer as the gloom hands ...

Got scared shitless and ran away 😅 This is the BOTW's Guardians moment all over again. 

Btb, the Construct mini-boss on the Great Sky Island was a real fun challenge ! Loved how you had the capacity to use your abilities to target it's weak point specifically. That was already a better fight than most of the repeated mini-boss in BOTW so far. Can't wait to see some of their fresher ideas they have in mind !

What would you define as "magic" out of curiosity?

If you mean the use of elements such as fire/ice/electricity, those are already governed by the use of expendable resources like the materials you Fuse to imbue weapons with them, or the durability of wands.

If you mean the Runes, I can't imagine running out of the ability to use Ultrahand/Fuse/Ascend/Recall would improve the experience. 

Yeah, I'm specifically thinking of Runes, which are some sort of "Magic". Zelda used to have Magic Meter, and from my POV, Runes should be resource that is getting slowly depleted when used.

As I said, it's up to devs to decide how much of resource depletion mechanisms will they incorporate in their designs. I like them, there's plenty of them in BotW/TotK formula and Runes also being depletable would be actually more fun for me.

True enough, the experience feels certainly fresher than I would've expected. Pretty fond of the new monster camps you can fight with actual NPC's which I encountered randomly + all the caves they added for another level of exploration. Fighting the horriblins and mimic trees for the first time were quite the  experience, especially since the latter is so well hidden hahaha.

I've only been in Central Hyrule thus far so can't wait to see what lies in Necluda and other regions !

The game feels almost too big!! BOTW was already incredibly expansive, but TotK brings it on bordering too big and it’s kind of overwhelming. 

Not a complaint per-se. But I want to finish the game in time for FFXVI’s release, and considering the pace I’m going and how enormous the game’s world is, I really don’t know if I’ll be able to manage that. 

So, enough forum dwelling. Back to Zelda.