I’ve never played even one minute of a Pokemon game in my life

Uhh, if they’re still on Great Sky Island and have done 2 shrines total, they are very much still in the tutorial.

As they specifically said, BOTW does the exact same thing. I got to a point where the only marker I had in BOTW was “Defeat Ganon” pointing at the center of the map. Doing that wouldve been... ill-advised. Apparently I was meant to run into someone who would point me to Kakariko Village at that point, but I didn’t, so…

You’re not, though the tone of this article (ridiculously) implies so. Enjoy the game at your own pace. That’s how it was designed to be played.

Isn’t going to the castle basically the only quest you have at that point? Shouldn’t that be enough that you have to go there to advance the plot?

Wait... am I supposed to actually go to the castle quest marker already??

I agree with your point about wanting to fight things in TOTK. In BOTW I’d avoid a lot of the smaller encounters because I didn’t want to waste my weapons, but in TOTK I’m seeking them out so I can make more weapons. I’m also always on the lookout for keese. Those snipe arrows are so good.

haha, great delivery on your story. Hope you’re enjoying the Switch though. It’s a great device and the closest I’ve come to reliving the younger gaming years of my youth in some time.

I played for 10 hours before I found the paraglider, and after dying for the umpteenth time because of falling damage, I broke down and looked at a walk-through.

I didn’t read any reviews of the game or any of the many Kotaku articles that have already been written, haven’t read or watched any walkthroughs or tutorials, so forgive me when I say: “I’m still in the fucking TUTORIAL area?” I’ve only completed the first two shrines! I was sort of hoping to get a chunk of this game…

I’ve been excited for Tears of the Kingdom since it was announced but there’s definitely a voice in my head that is screaming to start an Elden Ring NG+ right now

I fell in love with Elden Ring and now I feel like I’ve peaked and just can’t feel the same about other video games anymore... Silksong may be my only hope.

I am on my third full play through of BOTW where I have still not beaten it

I did too, but it was just... unfun. I wanted so badly to like it (as I love BOTW and games like MH!), but it just wasn’t for me. Didn’t help that the damn game felt like it was fighting me at every step.

I went through a similar “prove that I still had it” thing with Elden Ring.  

The game doesn’t expect or even encourage you to explore every inch of it, no open world games do. Botw does an exceedingly fantastic job of givng you fun things to do at your own pace while still making important progress.

Turn off the Shrine locator and just go to the closest Divine Beast. 

Perhaps it’s also because I’m an “old” now - but I still haven’t finished Breath of the Wild and can pretty confidently say I prefer the older style of Zelda. I just don’t have the time to devote to exploring every inch of a big open world.

I am 45 and just finished a glorious 200 hour playthrough of Elden Ring which I realized halfway through was a midlife crisis game for me to “prove I’ve still got it” so if anything I kind of feel like I’m looking at this from the other end and am considering taking a break from all video games *after* TOTK…

Obviously suicide is horrible, but I can’t help but find it a little funny that the first thing he does in game is seemingly jump to his death. Then it cuts to him smiling.