Started a fresh attempt to play through Breath of the Wild* and I find it interesting how the game loop doesn't really enforce periodically returning to towns in the same way that an RPG might. I'm glad, because I'm not really a "mooching around towns" sort of player, but it also makes the towns themselves feel kind of weird and vestigial.
Link is self-sufficient enough out in the wilderness that you don't really need to worry about running out of resources ever (health, arrows, etc), and there's no such thing as inventory limits on loot, so you don't have to regularly run back to dump it all on a shopkeeper's head. And from a certain perspective that's good, but without that bungee cord pulling you back, the towns lose the appeal of providing safe refuge, or crucial services. The one time I've felt like I needed to visit a town was when it became apparent that I was woefully under-protected for the area I was exploring, and needed to pay a one-off visit to the armour shop. There are quests, I guess? I don't really find their possibility enticing enough on its own. Maybe that's just me.
I think there is value in having the contrast and gentle oscillation of that loop, and there could be ways to repair it here. You could make the player reliant on some resource that's unavailable out in the great unknown—maybe if cooking pots could only be found in towns, forcing you to do meal prep before venturing forth—but it also feels like the game is at its best when aimlessly wandering without any clearly defined endpoint. Maybe it's best to leave towns in their slightly vestigial state, rather than have players feel compelled to break off a grand adventure at an inconvenient time because they're all out of juice.
*No, I haven't finished it before, and no, I haven't played TotK yet.
