(I’m going to try and be vague in the interest of not being spoilery for those that haven’t played.) So, I did a lot of TotK “out of order,” being not very good at following directions and much more likely to follow whatever just caught my attention. Which meant that I found myself trying to skydive into the Lost Woods when I realized that I was above it. And then being determined to get in when I kept voiding out. All with 5 hearts and maybe two geoglyphs. So my first “hands-on” experience was during that quest with jack-all for maneuverability room. I died several times before going back with a ton of sundelion snacks. The encounter on the plateau still startled the hell out of me lol.
(Not too much later I finished that quest and got the sword glyph (I forget in what order)… and then I finally decided to follow Impa to the temple like she had suggested many game hours ago. And I could have saved myself some grief (and spoilers) if I had just followed instructions rather than rampage across the countryside willy nilly. >_> )
It’s disorienting as hell. While there’s valid criticisms about the emptiness of the depths, the feeling of initial exploration (pre-hoverbike etc.) was masterfully done IMO. I can’t count how many times I went to throw/shoot a bright bloom and it landed three feet in front of my face on a wall or a root I couldn’t see lol. Seeing the first Yiga base in the distance and wondering what that dim red sentry robot was, the first Frox, vast gloom swamps, armored freakin Lynels… yeah, it’s creepy. And I loved it lol.