Correction: As some have pointed out, Link DOES have idle animations, but you have to wait a long time to see them. Certain animations also only appear under certain conditions, like in the rain or when Link is shirtless or crouching. I've put hundreds of hours into this game and not ONCE did I ever see any of these. Thanks to @rmsgrey who was the first I saw to point this out.

I will never forget my mom picking me up from school a few weeks after the switch release. I got the student of the month award and when she picked me up early that day, a switch copy of breath of the wild was in the back seat. I had a Wii U, not a switch. She said “let’s take it back today and get it for the Wii U” but when we got home, a switch was on the counter. Playing it for the first time might be my favorite gaming memory.

March 3rd is my birthday, I’ll never forget begging my parents for a Switch during the hype leading up to it. They surprised me and woke me up at 11pm and we went and waited in line at Best Buy for the release. I got the 4th to last Switch they had in stock. I’ll never forget getting home and booting up this masterpiece, all the lights off, TV full volume with my family watching me enjoy my new gift.

My Breath of the Wild moment was when, after climbing a mountain and ending up in a lake, suddenly a huge dragon rose up from that same lake right next to me. I literally screamed. I love how this game can tell stories.

One minor nitpick: Link does actually have idle animations in BotW - you just have to wait a ridiculously long time for them to start (and another long time between them)

"Breath of the wild broke many things, from long-standing conventions, and traditions, to my god damn weapons, this game showed me that there is nothing more durable than hope"  Incredibly written.  My best to you, stranger.  I hope better days lie ahead.

I'll tell you an anecdote about my friend and me. I had beaten all 120 shrines, but my friend who had long since moved far away was stuck on 119. I tried figuring out which shrine was his last, and I told him I had struggled with finding my last as well. he asked which one was my last, and upon explaining where it was (the snowy mountain north of the desert), it became clear that he had no idea what I was talking about. Bingo, bango, bongo, that's how he found the final shrine. Now we lived far apart and didn't speak all that often anymore and yet out of a 120 shrines we both ended up with the same last shrine. We were still, after all those years, similar. That was an amazing experience.

I did it. I 100% BotW. I have found 900 korok seeds, discovered every location, freed every divine beast, did all 90 side quests, 42 shrine quests, uncovered all the memories, got all the Kilton medals you name it. This game was my first love, and I'll never forget it for what it brought me. I've played 600 hours of it through two years. I've grown a lot since I stepped out of the great plateau two years ago until today when I got the last little korok. I had two play throughs and I'll forever be grateful for what this game has brought me

Your video perfectly encapsulated the feelings I got when I got to certain parts of the game. I have to say goodbye to it now, because if I overstay my welcome the game gets stale. And that's kind of how it has been since the last few months. I miss the sense of discovery and pure childlike adoration I had when I first started playing. When everything was new and I was getting jumped by blue bokos.

This video is kind of a farewell to BotW for me. Thank you so much for it, you must have put a lot of work into it. I'll buy TotK later this summer, now I need a break to mourn the end of a journey that made me grow so much and accompanied me through tough hardships.

Goodbye BotW, I will cherish your memory with me until the end of my life.

NGL I got emotional at the end. Such a thorough and passionate retrospective and topping it off with how you personally connected to the game's themes...bravo man. Here's to hope for the future 💙

To this date, I didn't know king Rhoam gives you the warm doublet any other way than cooking his meal.

This is an excellent retrospective! These kinds of videos are my favorite content on YouTube (I watch a lot of them, king K, Joseph Anderson, Liam Triforce, ect). this is the first video of yours I’ve watched but man please trust me when I say that this video holds its own against the best creators in the genre. Great job and I can’t wait to watch more of your content.

My favorite part of this video is how you walked through the lead up to BOTW’s release. It was the first Zelda game that I actually got to be a part of the pre-release hype. I actually got a copy of the game before I could find a switch, my parents also wanted to get it for me as a reward for my good grades. I feel like the lead up to this games release is often brushed over rather quickly but the way you took your time to go over each milestone (for lack of a better term) was really great.
I also really love the quality of your voice, got the smooth King K register but with a little more energy and upbeat personality! There’s plenty of room for more great video essayists and you’re a great addition to the community!

For some reason, stumbling upon Lurelin for the first time is my favorite memory from playing BOTW for the first time. There was something so intensely thrilling about randomly coming upon a small beach town in the middle of nowhere. I would give almost anything to go back and play it for the first time again. I remember that I didn’t go to any of my college classes for a week when I first started playing (whoops) 😅

There’s no way we are only 2 years away from this game being 10 years old

32:30 I love how the king is named after botw's main focus, which is exploring, or, "roam"ing

I’ll never forget it. I’ve been through almost every up and down this series has had, I’ve 100% nearly every game multiple times. It’s without a doubt my favorite fictional franchise in existence. I bought a Wii U in 2014 solely because of any zelda games existence. Midnight release of this game is a memory I will never forget, me and my cousin saved our birthday money for months for it and we was the only people that night to get the Wii U versions, with the next day off school scheduled we played the game all night long and into the next day. Being able to play it side by side and seeing how we both went different ways after the great plateau. Probably my most cherished gaming memory ever.

Disagree with combat becoming "boring" after I'm all powerful. It's a hard earned, well deserved reward for everything that's been accomplished, and after beating Ganon, I was able to explore in relative peace while hunting every last Korok, Hinox, Talus, everything I needed to upgrade all armor... and possibly completing the compendium. - Loved watching this video

This is such a good video. BOTW's story spoke to me for basically all the reasons it did for you and it's refreshing to hear that from people as opposed to "uhh memories bad". We're all gonna make it

You are correct, I've never tired of the first panorama of BotW.

I remember booting up this game and my brother was watching. I walked into Rito Village and that dragon roost remix started to play and its the most emotional a videogame has made me