Skyward Sword quite a bit of things to do outside of the main quest, but I never horsed around just to increase my end play time. This game was huge, so I wanted to partake in it every chance I could. I probably came close to 100-percenting it before finally closing my journey in January, and this was on the first playthrough. The extra content made me go hunt everything that I could down in order to immerse myself the best I could. And these activities are what I did to "waste my time", or divert myself from the conventional plot.
- Seek out Goddess Cubes
- Catch/Try to catch the collectibles for upgrades
- Practice archery on far-away enemies
- Do the Gratitude Crystal quest
- Do fetchquests
- Explore the other islands
- Find as many Wall Drawing spots as possible
- Explore Skyloft and the Provinces to get their layouts down
- Even went back through a few Dungeons, picked up anything I missed
And so much more, I'm sure. This just came from the top of my head. Nevertheless, you can imagine how many times I might've needed to change the batteries.