Looks like a few hacks for TotK have come out, the usual invincibility, infinite items, etc etc etc. I did turn on the items thing once to save and have 99 of each thing in my pocket (doesn't automatically unlock all items AFAIK) but Ive been using the weapon durability hack and the stamina hack.
LEAGUES more fun to explore. Still get oneshotted here and there when I get somewhere I shouldn't be till later in the game, not to mention my piddly 15+ power sword doin almost nothing to the oneshotters. But yeah, I can see this game being actually enjoyable for people who hated weapon/stamina BS.
As an aside - I do have to give this specific game a bit of credit for its size.
Yes, Hyrule is basically identical save for some terrain changes due to the (story element that is revealed in the first 5 minutes but I wont spoil it for those who want to go in blind). So, honestly not that impressive since its that same map. The sky map is admittedly pretty big, but its more akin to the islands in Windwaker. Sure, the whole 'sea' was part of the world, but you could only get into any action/story elements while landing on an island.
Most of the Sky islands are for looting, really. Shrines are usually in each major piece of sky map. But there are item dispensers (for crafting) on each one as well, and they don't all serve up the same thing. But even so -the sky map is probably... 1/4 the size of the surface? Lots to explore/find, but its not that big and can be tedious to get to because they are so damn high.
When you get the 'recall' (rewind time) power, you can use it on pieces that fall from the sky to fly back up. Cant miss em, they flash blue when they fall (all the time). It wont take you all the way to the island level, but it will get you pretty high up there if you need to get a lay of the land or whatever.
But the credit is for the depths. Evidently the depths are literally the size of the Hyrule map. So we're talking sorta like Light World/Dark World from Link to the Past. Its not
actually the light/dark world, the depths don't have the same terrain. Its mostly flat with some rolling hills/crevasses, pits, and lots of gloom (bad stuff that makes you lose active hearts).
But its just as large as far as 'acreage' is concerned. Have to hand it to the game designers, thats pretty damn cool to have two FULL maps to explore. 2.25 if you wanna count the sky map
Some of the weapon fusions you can get are completely useless/hilarious/dangerous, but some of them give you some major power upgrades, until they break. Hence, turning that shit off.
With the stamina thing, Yeah - I get that Elden Ring had stamina too, and it would run out if you weren't paying attention. But where From Software totally outdid Nintendo is in the stamina department. In ER, as long as you're not in an active fight and far enough away from an enemy - your stamina (and by extension the Torrent's) are infinite. Making traversal before quick travel SO much easier and quicker.
I think if Nintendo had done that with TotK and even BotW, it wouldn't have been such a mood killer for me.
Also, Nintendo really needs to step up their game when it comes to menus. There are some QoL improvements they did with cooking and whatnot, but while they added a "select an item on the fly to either throw it or attach it to an arrow" thing, when you have a lot of items (and this is BEFORE I did the item hack) you end up having to scroll for about 17 years to find the item you want. Even with an automatic sort button (hit Y or X and it sorts stuff by power, usage, type) you can still scroll for hours to find that one chuchu jelly you havent used yet and is all important to take down an enemy.
Also just recently unlocked one of the fairies (theres a quest to do something that should have been unlocked in the first place, come on Nintendo) and upgrading your armor is JUST as shitty and annoying as before.
"Hmmmm ahhh you want me to upgrade your armor?"
*furiously hitting A to get past the text to have the upgrade happen"
"Which one?"
*select item*
"Hmm... ahh ohhhh here's an annoying little 10 second movie.."
*furiously hitting X to skip the annoying needless 10 second movie*
"Dat dadda da daaaaaa..............(cant hit A yet to get rid of the 'you got this thing' window)...
OK now you can hit A to continue...
"Ahh... its so beautiful... do you have others to upgrade?"
...
"Hmmmm ahhh you want me to upgrade your armor?"
Rinse/Repeat
Fuck man. Just let me select EVERYTHING I want to upgrade if I have the materials at that point and upgrade it in one shot.
edit: Oh, and building in this game is actually pretty fun. When you get rockets (yes... rockets) and you try to do shit and fail hilariously, that's some good hooliganing. There's also this that is possible: