Maybe it's just the way you write but everything you say sounds like complaining. Maybe learn to write in a way that shows you are enjoying something when you are enjoying it. You can get in the chasm whenever from my experience, I didn't immediately go down there but I just went randomly after doing some stuff and had no issues getting down there with the glider.

Hyrule is actually great to explore because so many aspects of it have changed since BotW. I was afraid going in that the map would feel overly familiar but it really doesn't.

Not yet no. But that explains why it opened once more and closed again when I tried to get the glider to work again. I did not notice any durability or stamina gauge. I tried steering link to water but there wasn't any nearby enough so hit the ground. Game reloaded and put me back before the tower quest (which gives you the paraglider) with the unskippable sequence I just watched.

I was enjoying the scenery while gliding down, my bad. Will try again now I know it's not an off limits zone.

I guess the Zonai platforms have a limited range you can take them? On Sky Island I had them disappear after a while but it didn't seem based on time of use. Thinking back on it it's more likely distance from their original location. Since on a retry I used a platform already closer to my final destination. (And not stopping by the other islands on the way up)

I said wind cleaver, not korok leaf. That weapon functions quite differently and is only designed for combat.

There is a stamina gauge. I don't know how you couldn't see that. You apparently played BotW, but you have no idea how the paraglider works? Have you never seen the green wheel next to Link?

There is no water at the bottom of the chasm below Hyrule Castle btw. Also maybe save beforehand.

Cutscenes can usually be skipped by pressing x. It says that at the bottom right corner.

Yes.

You're the one who claimed that enjoying BOTW/TOTK as they are isn't a popular opinion. Sales are an indicator of popularity, because unpopular games don't sell over 30 million lifetime.

You don't have to like it, but if we're talking about popularity, the mass market does matter, because everyone is entitled to an opinion, not just those who go on gaming forums.

   I never said that. all is said was the melee combat was weak and you started talking about sales.

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9447957

In response to BasilZero saying he liked the system as is, you responded that it's "actually not a popular opinion". Now, given that both games are massively popular, and very positively recieved, the idea that enjoying their core gameplay is "not a popular opinion" doesn't hold much water.

I mean you seem like you wanna ignore all feedback and just use sales as something being great. many open world games have sold great because of there open worlds. the gaming community we know the difference between good and mediocre combat, but you can use sales all you want. if thats what makes you think something is great i guess you must have thought all ninendo consoles were crap before switch and wii.

To those people who can't stand this mechanic, who say it's a deal breaker for them, I think you didn't give it a good try with an open mind, so you never got to see that it's not nearly as bad as you thought. Before I explain why I said that, let me point out that I would have preferred if the weapons were more durable. Maybe up to twice as durable as they are in the games. I don't hate the mechanics, I just think they went a bit too far with them. That being said, here's why I think you probably didn't give it a chance:
1. It's so easy to find weapons in the game, it's almost impossible to be completely weaponless once you've gotten past the first 20 minutes of the game.
2. If you need a weapon, it probably means you're fighting an enemy, and almost all the enemies in the game drop their weapons when they are knocked to the ground, so you can easily pick them up mid-combat.
3. If you have a favorite weapon, you have the liberty to fill your inventory with multiple copies of that weapon because like I said earlier, it's very easy to find weapons.
4. There's no point hoarding your best weapons and avoiding fights to avoid weapon durability because the abundance of powerful weapons scales with the time spent in the game (I think it's tied to the number of blood moons you've encountered). The longer you've been playing, the more frequently you'll run into powerful enemies and thus, powerful weapons.
5. Weak enemies hold weak weapons and stong enemies hold strong weapons. This means that if you break some of your own weapons while fighting an enemy camp, you can pick their weapons from them and the weapons will always be strong enough to handle the particular enemies you're currently facing. There's no risk of grabbing a very weak weapon from a strong enemy such that the weapon will hardly do any damage to him.
6. In BOTW, you had the option of building a house for yourself and stocking it with some of your favorite weapons so that when an occasion arises in which you would like more copies of your favs, you could go home and pick them from your armory.
7. Finally, at almost every point in the game, you have an inventory so full of weapons that you would have to drop one if you found a new one to pick up. If the weapons really were breaking too quickly, you wouldn't almost always have a full inventory. This just shows that the rate of weapon drops/new weapon discovery is considerably higher than the rate of weapon breaks.