Zelda TOTK: 7 Essential Side Quests You Need to Do NOW

Soon after first getting to my first stable, I captured a black and white horse who I registered under the name Oreo. It's only then that the stablemaster told me they still had my BotW horses. The first of those, who I had forgotten about, was a black and white horse named Oreo. I guess I'm consistent in my naming

Should also note that doing the side quest for Josha to get autobuild also allows Robbie to go back to the lab at Hateno Village to give you the Purah Pad upgrades.

The most important side quest is going to Hateno Village and helping that farming family up the hill on the way to the Lab. Cause then you help people invent cheese in hyrule for the first time and you can make the first pizza. Which would be historically one of the most significant things Link has ever done.

You forgot to mention the best thing about the glide armor. If you have the whole set and upgrade all three pieces twice it has a set bonus that allows you to have no fall damage.

You don't have to taxi Koroks, if you don't want. You can glue them directly to the towing bar and drag them across the rocks.

I can't help but feel like Misko stole all of my armor whilst out surveying Hyrule with Zelda

Leaving an offering at a cherry tree reveals all the caves in the area!!?!? So many wild things in this game, love it

I'd say if you want to experience the story in a semi-organic way, you should head to a geoglyph, find Impa, then go to the Forgotten Temple that she points you to. It'll give an in-game map to the geoglyphs, and tell you which order they go in to experience the Tears of the Dragon memories in chronological order. There's no tough fights, just exploration, discovery, and a lead to the best revelations not detailed in the main questline.

I'd argue one of the most useful things to find in the early game isn't a side quest at all, but instead finding the numerous maps to key features of Hyrule that are present if you look for them. So far I've found at different points: a map of the major population centers (in the Emergency Shelter of Lookout Landing), a map of the geoglyph locations (back of Forgotten Temple), a map of Yiga Clan strongholds (in any Yiga stronghold you might run across), a map of Cherry Blossom tree locations (present in a number of stables), and map of all stables in Hyrule (on the table in front of Traysi in the Clover Gazette). You can take a picture of these maps and keep them in the Purah Pad to reference whenever you need to. It can make polishing off a number of side quests much easier.

The stable trotter quest is a must do as early as possible. It unlocks the ability to upgrade armor, which makes exploring so much easier.

Additionally, enhancing the glide set to level 2 with a great fairy and wearing the full set negates ALL fall damage, no matter how long or fast you fall. You can jump down from the Stormwind Arch and still hit the bottom of Tanagar Canyon without turning Link into a heroic puddle of blood and organs

The frog suit is an absolute must and an absolute boon. That quest takes a while but it is 1000% worth doing ever. Being able to climb in the rain makes traversal so much better

I feel like it's worth mentioning with the Lucky Clover Gazette that you need to join as a reporter before you can start the Stable Trotter's quest and reap the benefits thereof.

Good note on the Bargainer statues, if you want to avoid paying for their locations: Each Bargainer statue has a Hylia statue counterpart on the surface. Small Hylia statues found in the towns don't count. Their counterparts are the giant Hylia statues found in specific locations in Hyrule.

My heart just melted when I saw all my horses still in the care of the stables.

The quest "Maddison's Independance" in Terry Town gives you a house in the end, which you can place a Godess Statue and a Kitchen in for easy access

You dont actually need the hyrule herb It works just fine if you use just the sundelion, rice, and milk

I also want to suggest doing a certain questline that starts when you visit the old Yiga Clan hideout from BotW. It'll also unlock a new stamina-based ability for Link. It's really good.

You forgot about "Infiltrate the Yiga Hideout" which gives you the means to get some of the best abilities in the game, including something the Blademasters loved to use against you.

The skeleton horses in the depths are mountable. Riding them with the Hobgoblin mask makes for some efficient exploration.