With static I mean the enemies in camps and bosses around the Depths. The random spawns (bats, blobs, frogs, moblins/kokoblins/lizalfos) keep coming back. I obviously haven't seen a blood moon yet, no day/night cycle either in the Depths (which is pretty nice tbh) so no clue about the passage of time. But eventually I'll get back to where I entered the Depths, so will see whether those camps there have been repopulated.

I've been marking the bosses I skipped in the depths. Wrong way around to compare with a completion map doh. Anyway curious whether stuff fully resets in the Depths every game week. There goes my last sense of accomplishment to make the Depths a safer place haha.

I think Hyrule would have been better off if Ganondorf never was tied to Demise. Ganondorf would be better off too.

Good Smile Company just announced that an action figure of BOTW Link was being made, and it looks like it's gonna be awesome. ^^

68% map completion now and I am seriously asking myself if I should bother. @Veknoid_Outcast The experience is way overloaded already. There are so many things that aren't fun to do and what's really missing is a sufficient number of main objectives that provide purpose to all the collecting and upgrading you do throughout the game. In the beginning there's this one door at the temple of time where you need four hearts to open it; back then I assumed that TotK might have a few of these doors as checkpoints for the overall progress. But there's nothing; there's actually less than in BotW which had an intimidating dungeon in Hyrule Castle; TotK doesn't even have that and that's why it all feels a bit hollow. A comparison to Octopath Traveler 2 applies here: That was another sequel in the same vein with baby steps forward and a lot of unpleasant things remaining unchanged.

The next game I am going to buy is the Atelier Marie Remake, eleven days to go until its release. I am very much looking forward to it, because the origin of the Atelier series is about nothing more than a game that is fun to play without the bloat of what Atelier games have nowadays. Something fun to play is what I really need now, so in the coming ten days I am probably opting to play Etrian Odyssey 2 rather than TotK with its growing monotony.

The next Zelda should either have half the size of Breath of the Wild's world map or a dozen of dungeons embedded in the same size as BotW's map; embedded like the Gerudo temple in TotK, that's what I mean with it. There needs to be more density of interesting places to visit instead of this vast emptiness with occasional korok seeds, treasure chests and minibosses. Zelda needs proper dungeons, filled with powerful enemies instead of puzzles. Such dungeons would give the experience purpose, be the goals that the player is working towards.

The difference between BotW and TotK is that players were more forgiving towards BotW because it was a step in the right direction for the Zelda series after all the lock and key mechanisms of Skyward Sword that greatly narrowed down the choices that the players had. TotK failed to take the next step and I think that's how it will be remembered. I am just glad that I didn't have high expectations, because otherwise I would have been let down tremendously. I had huge expectations for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and then was disappointed because not all of it could match or exceed the previous two games; but all that was complaining on a very high level, because XC3 joined the ranks of all-time great JRPGs and will be great to replay; I know because I already did a few times. But TotK... yeah, it's a lot like Octopath Traveler 2: A could-have-been that didn't bring to the table what it should have done.

It was raining all day today so I pushed on through Zelda and completed my survey of the Depths! That is, the connected parts, there are still 4 light roots that are only accessible from Hyrule and another 5 I need heat protection gear for since they're in the middle of the lava fields in the Depths.

Final tally from exploring the depths, 11,178 Zonaite, 638 large Zonaite, 3,528 crystalized charges (which I just turned into 35 energy wells), 10,638 poes, over 400 bomb flowers and muddle buds, over 500 puff shrooms, 999 arrows, 33 Yiga schematics, 8 Schema stones, 862 Bokoblin fangs, the most common spawn. Bloated game lol. And btw the enemies never reset while I was in the Depths. Camps around where I explored first were still abandoned, just the Zonaite came back. Maybe it will repopulate now I left the Depths and trigger a blood moon.

Leaving the Depths took an hour of trial and error but I finally managed without resorting to fast travel or walking all the way around the river walls to an ascend tower. I went back to where I entered for the initial photo quest to find everyone had left, including the balloon that was sitting there. I auto build my rocket balloon to get back to the surface but nope, it doesn't last long enough. Just enough for the game to load the surface, then the balloon disappears and the game hangs for 10 seconds while loading the Depths again.

I tried adding a fan to the balloon but with just the one battery I still had, doesn't make it either. I tried launching from higher up, yet that's a bit to the side and then it got really frustrating with how bad the build system is. Doing any sort of precision aiming is off the table, adding a steering stick just makes it too heavy and the annoying snap feature means I can't position stuff in the right place to make it work. Using the ceiling as a funnel works except the dumb physics engine launches the wood fire out of the balloon when the rockets boost it into the vaulted ceiling.

So back down I tried a Yiga dirigible with two balloons and fixed torches. Adding rockets and fans to make it go faster but that also didn't make it. I tried to use a platform with a stake, auto build and stick it to the wall was my plan. Then use that as a platform to build a new balloon halfway up. Didn't work, auto build and it just falls down, no chance grabbing it. So I tried adding rockets in flight which I got from the one Gacha machine in the Depths. That's when the build system really started to piss me off. It's either can't place here or watch it fall down straight away. Why can't I effing place it instead of it randomly dropping somewhere around you or have it in my hand after selecting it.

After well over a dozen attempts I finally found the right pixel to stand on and the right direction to face in to have the rocket fall inside the balloon. Then some awkward ultra hand manoevering to get it attached to the balloon and set it off. Finally with 4 rockets to launch, wood fire glued to the balloon (doesn't make sense but at least it doesn't fly out with the physics engine) and 3 times a rocket added in flight, made it to the surface before the balloon disappeared again! Oof it's bright up there.

Dunno why the build system gets all the praise, the more I use it, the more I dislike it. It's clunky to use with comedy physics and stuff disappears after a minute of use if you want to go anywhere. BotW was very do-able without fast travel, yet TotK relies way to heavily on teleportation. Anyway I should have enough battery power now to fan all the way up to the surface before the timer runs out. Next to work on stamina :/

First I'm gonna fill in the last parts of the Depths and complete the Khoga quest (is in one of the disconnected parts). Hyrule chasm here I come. Oh and not an ounce of recognition for my efforts. Ok I got 5 Zonaite for my efforts of mapping the entire Depths for them :p Not that I can tell them, thanks for the picture, I wonder what else is there. I could tell you but I guess I'll wait until your quest advances to the next stage lol.

Ah, got the blood moon straight away, first night out of the Depths. All reset :/

Hmm is there a way to reset the weather? I decided to climb to the top of Hyrule castle before diving back down, but it started raining halfway up, stuck now :/

Make a campfire and rest.

Glue 4 fans together, all facing down, and put a steering stick in the middle of them. It gives a ton of lift and will last as long as your battery does as no part degrades over time.

That said, why not just go to an ascend tower? It seems like you were going through a lot of needless frustration by trying to build things in mid-air. The system works fine when on the ground.

Tears of the Kingdom (physical) is down to $57.99 at US Amazon at the moment. Still pricey but technically that's 17% off. I think this is the lowest the game has ever been.

I was on a small ledge on the side of a tower hiding from the lightning lol. 3 blocks of rain, basically all in game day. Still a very annoying mechanic. Oh well, will be back to the Depths shortly. Next time I'll check the forecast first before starting to climb.

It's weird to see all the same monsters now in color. I've gotten so used to only seeing all mobs in their corrupted form that the game now looks like some kid went to town with a bunch of crayons to color in the mobs. Not sure if there's any purpose to exploring Hyrule castle again, top is empty but has some nice treasures. No better weapons though and breaking point seems a kinda pointless enhancement, extra damage when it breaks. Zelda's study is still the same as well as the rest look all too familiar. I made my way to the Shrine there for some simple puzzles. Today back into the Depths.

Thanks for the tip, didn't know fans lasted that long and since now I have 11.6 battery cells it should easily get me back to the top.

The nearest Ascend tower to the original entry point (the chasm for the initial exporation quest) is a 45+ minute trek around the river walls down in the Depths. First got to go all the way South to get around the rivers. Then still have to run all the way back to Lookout landing after. I'm trying to stick to my no fast travel play style as long as I can.

The system only works fine on flat ground with plenty space. And even then the 2 axis rotation limit and snap into place mechanic is a pita. Plus I wouldn't have to build things in mid air if a balloon would last more than 60 seconds :/ But it did feel rewarding to finally make it out with a multi stage rocket balloon. At least the physics engine is simple enough to make it still go straight up with a rocket on one side only. (And of course the balloon doesn't collapse and catch fire)

Who here is guilty of Korok crucifixion?