I bought Zelda TotK right after release for Switch 1, just to be presented with a bright, blurry game with loading screens that I, personally, couldn't live with. I retired it after about an hour, uninstalled it from my console and sold the game on eBay.
Years later, the Switch 2 released and I was hyped. Bought it on release day and had the urge to give TotK another go. This was the start of something beautiful.
This game is an absolute blast. I wasn't as hooked since Elden Ring. The map design, the sheer possibilities, the love for detail, the way the game guides you in the right direction: it's absolutely fantastic.
This game is a master piece, and on the Switch 2, the game feels the way it should have felt on the day it released.
I can not recommend this enough.
The sky islands aren't very interesting, but it certainly adds some variety. The Depths is pretty cool though.
I feel like the sky islands were meant to be more of a problem-solving adventure, like how to get to certain places that are quite far, but the crafting system was so complicated/poorly implemented, imho, that it made them into a giant pain in the ass.
I ended up just making a platform hot air balloon (three balloons, three pieces of wood, and a fire weapon to light them), and using that for vertical.. was the only thing I could get working consistently that didn’t cost a lot of batteries and flame spitters and shit. That plus the gust ability when you’ve reached as high as the game lets you.. helps a lot..