The Gerudo area is the first time I've seen Rito outside of the Rito Village, or more specifically, outside the Tabantha area: one at the Bazaar, the other in the town.
I also unlocked that memory at the Bazaar. Pretty cool scene of Link saving Zelda from some Yiga Clan members. The angle they showed for that one Yiga Clan member made him look pretty threatening, and when Link came into the rescue, they play a lullaby version of the main theme. From that music and Zelda's face of awe, you can tell this was the moment she started to warm up to Link.
And then came the big highlight: Link dressing up as a girl. Not gonna lie, but the scene he first dons the costume was pretty funny.
Though I find it odd how that whole "no males in Gerudo Town" ban doesn't get lifted from you even after you speak with Riju and she finds out you're wearing a disguise. I only wonder if the Voe Ban is removed once you beat Van Naboris. It will surprise me if it still is there.
Speaking of Riju, I really like her character. She displays her tough and collected despite her age, but reading her diary reveals she has many insecurities because of her positions as chief, especially once she became chief after her mother died.
I was tasked to take the Thunder Helm that was stolen from the Yiga Clan, so I went back to that one shrine I previously visited that was close to it and proceeded into the hideout. It was a heart-pounding experience, especially when you get spotted by one of the Yiga Blademasters. Like, good lord, the Blademasters OHKO'd me, even though I had 23 hearts! Are they usually this strong, or do they OHKO just for this dungeon?
I did figure my way through though (and I only got two game overs during it, which were my first game overs in a really long while for that matter; Mipha's Grace didn't work despite being fully charged). There are certain points where you need to use bananas to lure the Yiga Blademasters away and then sneak behind them.
Then came the battle with Master Koga. For the Yiga Clan leader, I was surprised to see that he ended up being more goofy than threatening. He was pretty funny though with some memorable lines and animations, from that dance-mediation when he introduces himself to that one quote when he says that he learned his deadliest technique from his "father's mother's father" (Lol, he took the longer and more specific route instead of "great-grandfather").
Kohga's battle was really easy. It was basically just shooting arrows at him once the giant orb was above his head, then using Magnesis to crush the metal orb on him during the final phase.
With Kohga defeated, I only wonder how this will affect any encounters I have with future Yiga Clan members. Will they bring up that Yiga Hideout incident? Will more of them show up in the over world?
Upon returning the Thunder Helm to Riju, a new memory was unlocked. Much like the Revali memory, this is another memory that isn't triggered by a statue. Instead, it's the Thunder Helm itself, because Urbosa used it in the past. Really liked the cutscene it followed. Urbosa has a very keen intuition to both Link and Zelda's feelings, and the moment she woke up Zelda with that lightning bolt was enjoyable. You even gain a sense how Urbosa is a mother-figure for her too.
I then did a whole lot of Shrine exploration. I've taken care of all of the Gerudo shrines except too. I also visited the Faron region to finally complete my Hyrule map, and then I tackled two shrines there: one by a stable, the other north of it. The latter shrine was a bit tricky access since it was raining and it was above some huge cliffs, but using the Zora Greaves was the key as it allowed me to scale the waterfall to reach the top of the cliff. I then had to make a detour to reach the shrine area, where Kass was waiting. To unlock the shrine, you actually need to have Link be struck with lightning on the top of the mount! Scary stuff. The shrine had a shock-resistant pants inside. I now have two of three clothes that can give me level 2 shock resistance.
After making a ton of preparations, I'm about to be taking on Van Naboris. I'm actually pretty nervous about it, because I've been hearing about how hard the boss is. I've been watching a lot of footage of the battle in advance to get me ready for it.