There's even something of a maddening meta-game where it pays to keep crummy weapons around sometimes, and leave good weapons where they are to be collected later, as if you're full on good weapons, you'll end up wasting them on basic-level bokoblins. The inventory management is indeed the weak point of this game, but…

I finally started adding HTML for underline to any links I put up, just so they don't look like normal text. What an unnecessary, annoying feature, eh?

Despite being a huge fan of Twilight Princess, I do rather feel that this game (so far) does virtually all of what Twilight Princess did, but more effectively. I felt the same about Twilight Princess being, in essence, a better version of Ocarina of Time.

Argh, I really want to know what the weird road I encountered West of Mount Lanayru is! It feels like it could be a temple or a marketplace or something, but maybe the game won't ever delve any deeper into this. Fascinating stuff, and quite appealing to me as a guy who likes to visit old structures IRL.

It really does feel like a surprisingly effective fusion of past concepts despite being, on its surface, very different from earlier iterations.

Perhaps more than anything else, this aspect of the game most closely resembles Miyamoto's stated purpose of the series - to rekindle the feeling of childhood adventures exploring one's natural environment.

I found him on a hill near a stable in the middle of the continent, South of Hyrule Castle, after initially having discovered him somewhere closer to Kakariko Village.

The Koroks are one of the game's more subtly great aspects, I think. They offer an early, tangible reward to get players moving in the direction of exploring for the sake of exploration.

I do recall at one point seeing an on-screen prompt explaining how to shield surf. If memory serves, it was on the Great Plateau after completing the shrine in the snow (since you have a hill leading down to a river nearby). Midair shooting, as far as I know, is covered only by a loading screen tip.

I suspect it comes down to looking at your open-world design as a conscious decision made to support the game's theme (or vice-versa) vs. making an open-world because you just figure it's what players want, and it'll just be fun to have a wide-open sandbox. Game tend to work best when they find that compromise of…

I'm so glad you wrote this - I missed the initial instruction on shield surfing and hadn't been able to figure it out.

WHAT?! That's sooooo cool. Can't wait to find one. Reminds me of Majora's Mask.

It happened to me! A Moblin threw a Bokoblin at me, but I dodged and the Bokoblin went over the side of a cliff. I had to pause the game I was laughing so much.

Additionally, running away and laying a bomb as you run often allows you to detonate it on the enemies pursuing you, leaving them separated. At that point, it becomes easier to attack the bokoblins individually.

I can confirm that using a lightning weapon in the rain, or when your enemy is standing in water, is extremely effective. I love the elements to the combat system in this - it reminds me a bit of Divinity: Original Sin, where managing your environment is a key part of winning battles.

This is how I was for… gosh, it must have been the first ten hours at least. I couldn't quite get my head around the dodge command, as I kept tapping the run button that puts you're weapon away (I blame earlier Zeldas, in which this run button was the roll/dodge button). I still manage to screw it up on occasion,…

I beat that Lynel above Zora's Domain last night, and it's easily my best combat accomplishment in the game so far. It was a truly tense, nail-biting fight that I pulled through narrowly. I love the way the centaurs fight, kind of jousting you and then occasionally using a projectile attack or kicking. Sooo cool.

I did not know that about the horses, but this has made me quite happy! My biggest fear in this game is having one of my dear horses bite the dust. It made my trek through the central region, pursued by no fewer than three guardians, extraordinarily intense.

I'm glad you wrote this, because I hadn't considered putting skulls on my map to indicate enemy placement. Good tip!

Hahaha, I read this in my email browser rather than seeing it here, which resulted in me seeing a mild story spoiler. I haven't gotten quite that far yet. Happily, you left it vague enough that I don't know what you're talking about. Thanks for flagging it, since I'm presumably the only person who would get an email…