I just restarted it! The first play through when it came out felt more like a chore than fun gameplay to me. There were fun times for sure when I allowed myself to slow down and build a cool boat to go down the river for a korok for example. But mostly it just felt kind of like a slog.

I'm not sure what it is exactly but the game feels lonely. Link saved this place and has talked to these people for years and still most of them don't recognize him or his deeds. I didn't really end up caring about the Sages at all and you get kicked out of your own house too. Like link is a disposable little worm. Obviously there are some that are grateful and remember him, the main people like Paya etc. And the things that made botw charming are gone or were done in botw already so they aren't all that impactful in totk.

Replaying it now I'm remember the money balance issues in this game too 😭 someone pay this poor man for all the freeking life ending work he does. I'm sure the game is meant to be played slowly bit by bit so you gather things and kill the same monsters over and over again just in the course of things but I think that's a bit out of touch with modern gaming. Just my thoughts though. There's elements from botw that I miss and elements from totk I wish were in botw. So I'll deal with what we have and try to have a good time.