Covid Note: I tested positive 5 days ago and I’m feeling considerably better. Could have been worse! I’ll take it.
Approaching the endgame. 52 shrines completed, 47 Korok Seeds, four Great Fairies & the Horse God, Master Sword, all but one Shiekah Tower (far NW), all four Divine Beasts (completed in this order: Fire-Thunder-Wind-Water). Purchased and fully upgraded the house in Hateno. Construction of Terry Town fully completed. I lit the blue flame at the Northern Lab, purchased all of the Ancient Armor, and upgraded it all to level 3. I’ve also explored Hyrule Castle somewhat thoroughly. I’m not sure of my exact heart-count. But for Stamina, I’ve completed a 2nd wheel.
I feel pretty unstoppable!
On paper, there’s quite a bit of Breath of the Wild left to play. I’ve located fewer than half of the total Shrines. I have no idea what the full count is for Korok seeds, but presumably I could get dozens more and continue to add inventory slots for weapons, bows and shields, albeit inefficiently and without any real practical benefits. Several sidequests await me in my questlog, and I’m sure several more remain undiscovered out in the world. I never put much time into acquiring an excellent horse. I could sink some time into gathering materials to upgrade a number of armor sets - although I’m quite happy with my Ancient Set and Stealth Set, and quite happy with my available weather protection. I still have a few memories to locate for Link, which I probably will do because it likely affects the story. I also have not done the labyrinth or Eventide Island (I warped out, realizing it was not a 1:00AM project).
In practice, I’m at Calamity Ganon’s doorstep. Link is an abundantly resourced, superbly equipped powerhouse. In open combat, my Ancient Armor prevents most damage, while my stores of ‘++’ Guardian weapons receive obscene boosts from the ancient set bonus and plentiful cooking. I only need three weapon slots to manage more ordinary usage: the master sword, a Sledgehammer (never leave home without it), and a Royal Claymore or some similarly replenishable weapon. I’ve got low-power sniper bows, high power regular bows, multi-shot bows, 200+ regular arrows, 50+ of each elemental arrow, and a handful of ancient arrows.
Most gear I find isn’t good enough to pick up.
I’ve got deep stocks of cooked food. Full heals with bonus hearts, full stamina-refills with bonus stamina, various protections, speed, etc. For the most part now, I only cook during a Blood Moon and sometimes not even then.
For the ‘Major Test of Strength’ shrine located in Hyrule Castle, I obliterated the Mark IV Guardian and only noticed the lack of defensive pillars midway into the fight. I’m decent at parrying Guardian Beams and situating myself at midrange.
Which is all a way of saying, I’m not sure the game can offer much ‘reward’ for questing and exploring. I can’t imagine more stamina or health making a marginal difference to anything, given all the above. I don’t need money and I’m not sure there are any specific rare resources that I ‘should’ add to my arsenal. So…
…
…should I do shrines and quests for fun? For the shrines especially, one would assume they’re intrinsically interesting - engaging to solve, satisfying to see the ideas behind them. Which is true, but now that I’ve spent these long luxurious stretches just out in the unknown, exploring to my heart’s content, I no longer have quite the same frontier ahead of me. The time spent locating a shrine feels diluted. The ideas within the shrines are now hit-and-miss. The health-stamina rewards appear moot.
I’m not someone who enjoys raw completionism for its own sake. For three weeks, Breath of the Wild has presented me with an experience that felt vast and authentic. I’ve found it consistently fun to choose my own goals, and to this point I have not felt like the game is generating ‘junk content’ to fill space. It would be unfair and exaggerated to say I feel that way now. Rather, I feel like Link has become who he is destined to be. What exactly is there for him to prove?
I suppose this means I’ll have to tackle Calamity Ganon and then decide what to make of the postgame.
It sounds like the power climb was timed pretty well. It's different for everyone, but I think it can help anyone's enjoyment of a game to have a feel for how powerful they want to be, relative to the opposition, before they go for the end game. For me, it depends on the game and my mood. Sometimes, in games that permit it, I will grind like mad early on because I want to coast through the rest of the content.