Played a bit yesterday, and finally came to Kakariko village. I have now explored all of the first two areas in the game more or less, and am ready to go to Hateno Village and explore my third area.
There are quite a few things on the overworld i find illogical though. First of all, the space between people and enemies, i would have liked it if there were clearer borders between safe areas and unsafe areas. For instance, on the road from Kakariko to the Great Plateau there wanders quite a few unarmed merchants and other people - but there are also tons of monsters here. This kinda breaks immersion. Especially closer to the Plateau. Another thing with this road, is that it seemingly doesnt go anywhere. Why would anyone take the road to the Plateau anyways, when there is nothing there except ruins and monsters? I feel like this part of the game, the thoughts that went into why people do what they do, live where they live and travel where they do, is a bit weak in the game overall. I guess its normal for a game like this, but still would have been cool if more thoughts were put into it.
On that same note, I would have liked there to be city walls around the towns, and guards watching over them to avoid intruders. Just outside Kakariko, for instance, there are huge and deadly Guardians patrolling around, so it doesnt really make sense that the town is undefended.
Another nitpick (I know this stuff is nitpicky) is how the water flows. For instance in Lake Siela (between the stable and Kakariko), it is labeled as a lake, but most of it is actually a river flowing from the mountains in the north-east. Then all of a sudden a bit after the bridge, the water just stops flowing. It would make much more sense if the water continued downwards towards Nabi Lake and via the rivers, finally to Lake Hylia.
When it comes to the gameplay, I find it absolutely fantastic. The controls are good, the puzzles are fantastic, the secrets in the areas are fun to explore and the combat is good. I would have preferred the gameplay to be a bit more challenging though, as in the start i would avoid the enemy encampments because i thought it would be hard to just rush into it and fight them all, but this seems to work way too good imo. Guess I am too used to Dark Souls. Talking about Dark Souls, I absolutely do not understand why I cant change the controls. Would have loved to be able to make the imput more like Dark Souls, since I am now very used to that.
Two other minor gripes, first with the recipes/cooking. Why is there no register in the menus of at least the stuff you have made? Maybe I just havent found it? The cooking/potion-making stuff is also way to time-consuming imo, and Im probably going to try to beat the game more or less without using this. I also very much miss being able to have items on a hot key, again, like in Dark Souls. Hate to go into a menu to eat to regain health.
And about regaining health, this is maybe my major gripe. There is just no penalty whatsover for dying, so why would i even care to use potions? Im sure this is different in the middle of a dungeon when having to redo stuff, but if i die in the field from falling or whatever, i just start anew just where i started, and some enemies (like the guardians) do not even get their health back. So yeah, i would have preferred if you could only save in villages/bonfires or something like that, meaning death would come with a little penalty, and making exploring more of a survivalist experience.
But of course, I am still really early in the game, so who knows. Absolutely love it despite my comments here though, and feel like I am going to play it for a long, long time. Probably months, and maybe even years.