I'll probably wait another month or so before starting a new file in earnest. There are new releases every few days, and I'd like to see all the potential game-breaking bugs fixed first.

Why this method of uprezzing? Why now?

Curious how this is different from a generalized emulator. Wouldn't this be able to run any GC game that used the same registers as Twilight Princess?

But as time went on I came to realize that it was a hot mess to the point where I had to force myself to finish it. The gameplay itself was fine, as with most Nintendo games, but the content was a hodgepodge of parts that did not fit together. The story was building up this grand mystery with an all new villain, but then none of it went anywhere and halfway through the game the developers just threw in the towel and went "lol, it's Ganondorf again, to save the princess".

The items were mostly just "keys" used for very specific situations and just server to overcome obstacles which were specifically crafted to give those items a purpose (the spinning top being the worst offender).

The wolf mechanic was not really worth using, it was just a worse gameplay experience, so the wolf form was something just to be used when it was forced upon the player. You enter an area, it's all twilight and you turn into a wolf, then you go and collect all the light bugs, turn the area back to normal, and then you can finally play the game proper.

The game was aiming for a more realistic and gritty style after the backlash from Wind Waker, which is what many people wanted. But then they put all those goofy disproportionate character models in the game. It's as if Nintendo really wanted to make a new Wind Waker, but then reskinned the models with realistic and gritty textures. The end result is worse than if they had just made another Wind Waker style game. (and I did not even mind Wind Waker personally, but I do get where people are coming from)

The almost-open world design looked cool the first time around, but the world was just empty. There was hardly anything interesting to do. The same for the dungeons. There are no real puzzles that make you think in the game either, it's just gimmicks and chores.

I think this was the last time I gaslighted myself into liking a game. I had paid 250€ plus 60 € for that game, so of course it had to be good. It wasn't, but it took time to admit it. Since then I have taken a more critical stance towards video games: if it's not fun there is no point in forcing myself through it, I'll just drop it and eat the loss. It's better to wast money than waste both time and money.

Is Twilight Princess a bad game? Not really, there are worse offenders. If you have nothing better it's serviceable, but it just makes me want to play another game. Is it the worst Zelda? No, at least not for me; that time goes to Spirit Tracks, the game that irreparably made me give up on future Zelda forever.