I think itās okay to not hide this behind a spoiler: after the tutorial, you might wanna head straight to the first main quest target. Otherwise, several mechanics youāll need in the open world are not unlocked. You wonāt be able to complete certain shrines or do other important stuff out there. Thanks for your help here.
As Iāve said, itās uncharacteristically sloppy that Nintendo didnāt design this in a way that makes sure you act that way. This goes against the whole design language that BOTW and TOTKās tutorial has taught you.
Iām also starting to feel like the puzzle Iāve encountered in shrines so far are not really my cup of tea. They mostly rely on building contraptions with ultra hand. Itās often a bit unclear as to how these exactly work. Itās also quite important where exactly you attach stuff. Combined with the finicky controls, itās simply not that much fun to find out solutions and to then apply them. The fact that all the rotating is done while walking and youāre often next to an abyss means youāll sometimes die when trying to attach something, at least thatās what happened to me several times. Iām also again surprised that the game doesnāt explain some core controls in any way. Sometimes you have to activate a device thatās above you, and you can hit some pillar or what have you thatās connected to it with your sword to start it. How the hell am I supposed to know that when the game just taught me that you have to hit these devices directly to activate them? I really hope this improves or is not the main way youāll solve puzzles. It reminds me of the few puzzles that I hated in BOTW, now these seem to be the main event.
On a more positive note with mild spoilers about the world, story and presentation after completing the first main quest in Hyrule and exploring for around half an hour.
Summary
The game looks a lot better than BOTW. Rock textures seem way improved, water and clouds as well. This is especially apparent when youāre thrown into the air by a tower or when first diving down from the Temple of Time. It sometimes looks like a real next gen game.
The world is also a lot more fleshed out and interesting. Already lots of different characters and new enemies that Iāve seen. Purah looks so cool and has a lot of character now. . The gooey stuff that grabs you is scary as fuck. Story beats and encampments are also a lot more entertaining than BOTW and feel more like a classical 3D Zelda. The animation when you first activate a tower is gold. Hyrule also doesnāt feel too familiar. So much has changed that you donāt recognize a lot of sites. And for those you certainly will recognize, they play with that. For example that they make you head up Hyrule Castle so early and pass where you defeated Ganon. Or that Kakariko is now full of these ruins, especially here it feels like reaching a new main story location in a Zelda game.