Not true as Deku Tree you can't access with out talking to the right npcs, same with Jabu Jabu, Forrest Temple and Spirit Temple.

Yeah Not all of them let in without talking to someone, but the game does allow you to go into some of them without doing so. For the spirt temple though, I know you have to follow the ghost  with the lens of truth, but can't you just go to the temple if you actually know your way there?

Anyway. I just want to be able to find my dungeons on my own and get in whenever I want!

Spirit Temple still requires speaking to Naibooru as Kid Link otherwise you can't enter, dungeons in general don't lend themselves well to freedom in general as ultimately they tie into the story this is why BOTW and TOTK keep them to a minimum and moves events to mainly Hyrule itself only dungeon you can always go to with out any limitation is the final one. Another problem with dungeons has always been the lock and key concept they follow so any particular ability/character/item required in them renders discovering them by yourself pointless as you'll be forced to go elsewhere anyway, TOTK structures itself in a way that has you more likely run into events that lead you to discover the dungeons with what is required to reduce the issue of players running into dungeons beforehand.

The dungeons in TOTK aren't really the main draw to them in themselves they're actually more of a cherry on top it's actually the overall tasks surrounding them that is the whole cake for example the Gerudo Desert has a sequence of navigating a sand storm while resolving a particular problem and surviving the climate which is constantly switching between two opposites while the Rito has a Sky section to deal with. These sequences are like dungeons in themselves which ironic as they occur out in the open world, I actually prefer it as demonstrates that in future dungeons may not be required for such experiences to drive events.

I don't get how people can play in handheld mode. I did today at the car dealership while getting the car serviced. It works sure, looks fine, but hurts to play. It gave me a tension headache, sore neck, stiff shoulders. The couches there were plenty comfortable, but still got to keep the thing at the right angle to avoid screen glare. But I was back exploring in the Depths, the region around the fire temple now with fire suit equipped. So couldn't stop playing either :)

It was fully charged when I took it with me, lasted 2.5 hours before it turned off into sleep mode. I thought the battery lasted longer but it's a launch Switch, over 6 years old, I guess the battery is losing efficiency. Good thing anyway, time to get up and walk around to relieve my sore shoulders. And get sticker shock at the new car prices lol. Anyway some nice bonus time to play, service lasted 3 hours, oil, brakes, transmission, fuel lines, air filters, tires, alignment, the works. Still in great condition (12 years old), can forget about new car prices for another year at least.

A couple more things to explore around the Fire temple before heading inside, feels good to be back in the Depths. I find it a very relaxing place to explore since you never run into 'needy people' down there and can follow your own planned path. Up top there are all these NPCs that want things, I have that enough in real life lol. Oh and Yonobo is good help in a fight against silver Moblins, bowl em over, hit em when they're down :)

The battle where you defend Gerudo town from the waves of Gibdos was a cool setpiece.
I'm gonna see if I can complete the region without shelling out for the Gerudo gear.

As amazing as the game is, I kinda hope that finishing the four regional phenomena puts me near the end. For me, there's such a thing a game or film being too long, and I wouldn't want something I'm enjoying so much to overstay its welcome.

The fire temple itself was kinda disappointing. Another clash between trying to fit linear level design in a game with too much freedom. The paths are cleverly laid out although a bit confusing. Yet why bother to figure out the sequence the devs had intended when you can simply fly, climb, para glide around the place :/

I couldn't figure out how the devs had planned for the last 2 locks to be reached, probably not by first falling off the temple, climbing back on, using a rocket shield to get back up and climb around the side to get into the next opening. One of the paths I did backwards for sure as the split in the railroad didn't work. (was a join) I took 2 carts, lifted one onto the other track and hopped over. One of the paths required a rocket boost cart, however it veered off course and I had to para glide and climb back up a pillar to save myself. All unnecessary since you can just fly up and para glide to each target. The end dungeon I stumbled into was at least all underground preventing short cuts.

The boss was a bit annoying with the camera. It's hard to look up especially while aiming Yonobo, so it was mostly miss in phase 2. At least the boss doesn't pose much of a threat, just takes a while to wear it down. Playing this sequence made me miss Fire mountain in Wind Waker, so much better.

Then, gasp, the game teleported me back to Goron city, how rude. I'm glad I finished my exploration around the fire temple area first, but ugh, hate the discontinuity. And of course whole bunch of side quests popped up. The ultimate fun killer for me lol. I left it there, didn't feel like playing more at that moment. Tonight I'll go go back to opening up Hyrule, top right area, ignore the needy NPCs. More shrines for more stamina to sprint longer.

You mean you can't just go into the Great Deku Tree, go down the hole and kill Phantom Ganon?

Today I put the physics engine to the test, putting all mine carts I could find around Death mountain into one long train. 25 carts total!

It took over an hour to get it all together, mainly because stuff kept running away. The physics engine operates in two different modes depending on how close you are to things. Probably using higher 'resolution' for things closer to you. The result, run away carts would speed up as I try to catch up with them, somehow losing friction. They don't all keep the same pace and with one engine on one side it kept breaking up with parts running away ahead. Which only got worse when trying to move up the train as then you get out of range, the engine stops splitting everything up further. Once it's out of view, the carts disappear, reset to their starting position.

So I settled on having battery powered engines on both ends, cancelling each other out. Start pushing on one side, walk all the way to the front and turn on the counter fan to stop or slow down when stuff starts separating.

I tried gluing it all together to see what happens. That breaks the physics engine as soon as you get to a corner. 'Snap to track' gets into a pissing contest with the rigidity and the whole thing turns into a Mexican jumping bean, making a ton of noise bouncing around and eventually getting catapulted off the track entirely. The double carts already don't make it through the switches, can only go straight.

The hard part was clearing the track from enemies while keeping the train together. Yonobo doesn't really work on a train, only programmed for single cart use. So I had to bring the thing to a halt over and over to clear it out myself, then when it was all clear

MF Blood moon lol. At least it didn't reset the train.

On to the real challenge, bringing it all up to the top!

Lifting all carts over to the side track then equipping the double cart at the back with 10 fans and all batteries I had, well all but 2 since I ran into the build limit. Can't add anymore.

Ready to go, except taking this picture removed the fans from the back :/

Thus I had to rebuild the back 5 fans again and for some reason had to remove 2 more batteries as the build limit shrunk?

Anyway onwards and upwards

10 fans isn't enough to get 25 carts up that ridiculously steep track, stalled here.

I manage to add 3 fans on another cart powered by my own battery, just enough to make it to the midway point

The back end kept lifting up, too much power lol. Carts kept trying to jump off track as well but the snap to track force was strong enough to sort of keep it together. And those poor bats got sucked into the engines :)

Mission accomplished, bit of a pile up at the front

(That cold resistance is left over food from Tutorial island, I didn't want to risk dying on the way up as that resets everything)

I shot an arrow at the caboose to turn the engine off to make it all race back down. However it separated too much and half the train had reset (disappeared) by the time the end made it down. Experiment over. I was thinking about seeing how much stuff it could transport but enough time 'wasted'.

Impressive that it works. However the bubble in which stuff stays is pretty small and the bubble where you get 'high res' physics even smaller. Plus frame rate wasn't pretty driving 25 carts around lol. But it did work! And the coolest thing was that it needed a little nudge to get into motion, just like a real train. Everything compressed together, one fan couldn't get it moving. Move the engine just a few feet back to give it a little bump and it slowly got up to speed. Which cam in handy for stopping. Turn on the braking fan, then walk 25 carts back again to turn off the engine fan and the thing got to a halt without reversing. Then add something on the track to keep it from rolling away while taking care of enemies.

^That's some cool stuff. This is what this game was made for. Messing around.

I'm perplexed you still at 5 hearts wtf