I watched Alicia play the first two hours. Opening segment gave me slight Landstalker vibes with the hanging out in the castle and then falling into the river in the cave.
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Loving it. But god damn we need that Switch 2. The second youāre able to start running around Hyrule Castle Town the frame rate starts chugging real bad.
Wondering whether the Linkās Awakening frame rate was like this or if I just wasnāt as sensitive to it at the time. I sort of remember it being the drops were more severe but a lot less frequent
But Iāll tell you this for free: Iāve never wanted so desperately to be able to do magic from a video game in real life before. The power to summon meat and trampolines at will
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I am loving Echoes of Wisdom, itās great fun. The abilities at my disposal makes me feel mischievous. There is just something about stun-locking enemies with an army of birds, grabbing them and dropping them into a hole (or water if youāre really morbid) and using different items to walk on the trees - which usually indicate where you canāt go. Zelda is such a little rascal.
I figured out that I could drown flying enemies by summoning water blocks underneath them recently. It also took me way too long to learn that you can use any bird to glide. There are so many simple things to do, so I am mixing up my echoes quite often.
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I havenāt had much time for games until this week! So, Iāve also been playing through Echoes of Wisdom ā I really love it. Itās such a breezy hang.
@Alicia Yes! Rolling deep with a murder of crows has been a non-negotiable for most of my playthrough.
I like that theyāve pushed the Linkās Awakening Remake format and added Z-Targeting ā The movement feels great, with way more freedom and emphasis on verticality. Seems like a nice middle-ground of the older 2D and 3D entries at this point ā something like Super Mario 3D World. The world feels more expansive and less grid-like too, while retaining that sprite inspired art direction on models (adorable). It really suits playing in handheld.
The variety of enemies (and mechanics each introduces) is such a joy to uncover ā One of my gripes with BotW and TotK was lack of enemy variety, so its been nice getting to see such a deep roster. Truly feels like a toy box.
Playing the older N64 games, I usually try making use of as much a variety of my items on hand as possible (chucking bombs at any given opportunity, deku nuts, Dinās fire!, etc.), to avoid only using the sword for every encounter, so I am LOVING the amount of approaches all of these combinations of different enemy engagements have.
Gameplay Spoilers
I wish I had discovered automatons earlier on! I completely missed them til late-game. Theyāre such great rewards for their respective side quests!
Me and the crow squad feeding Audrey 2.0
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@safety_lite Yeah, there are so many enemies in this game. Iāve had several times where Iāve went āoh, they brought back those guys!ā while playing. I also found out yesterday that there are mini-bosses in some smaller dungeons, which is so good. Thereās a lot to be learned from the overall structure here when making more open ended Zelda games in the future.
While playing I came to the conclusion that one thing the newer 3D Zeldas really need to bring back is the Piece of Heart. I think that would solve a lot of the problems people have with rewards not feeling substantial. The stuff you get in the Shrines are kind of doing the same thing, but it doesnāt FEEL the same, right?
I also like that you get different beds throughout the playthrough that restore more hearts when you sleep on them, because theyāre more comfy I guess. Itās very silly.
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It just feels much more natural. I found myself thinking the same thing last night. Thereās something about that tiny red heart inside of the bigger gray heart that just canāt be beaten. Makes me more willing and excited to engage with the puzzles when there is 1/4 of a carrot at the end of the stick versus a 1/4 of a coupon for a carrot.
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Wasnāt it changed to 1/5 in the Breath games as well?
Finished it today and it was a good game. I had a lot of fun. Itās probably quite easy so if you like a challenge then probably start on hard mode. Iāve had long-covid for the past year so Iām enjoying games that help me out and arenāt too taxing. I think the early dungeons are a little too basic but thereās a big fun dungeon toward the end that I really enjoyed. I was surprised how many 2D side-scrolling sections there are and I dug those a lot.
The echoes interface really didnāt bother me at all and neither did the frame rate in the end.
The echoes are really fun to mess about with and I can see myself coming back to play around with what you can do. Iād love a challenge DLC with a bunch of cool dungeons to solve with them but I know that wonāt happen.
The smoothie thing is a bit perfunctory and the DampƩ part appears too late in the game to make much use of.
Also make sure you get the Lynel from the Eternal Woods as it comes in very handy later. Big damage!
I really hope they do more 2d Zeldaās.
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I havenāt really minded the echoes interface either, I have it set on Most Used so my main repertoire are easy to get to. Most times I need to ascend a small cliff or cross a chasm Iām using beds and trampolines, for fighting most enemies on the ground Iāve found myself using Wolfos a lot because he doesnāt fuck around, just relentlessly darts at the nearest target until he manages to get ahold of that delicious throat
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Listening more to the pod this week, do we think this game is too easy/simple? Iām having fun just running through it, but I do find myself thinking I can solve everything immediately and Iām not sure itās going to stick with me.
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I think if youāre looking for something on the lighter side and donāt mind a cutesey tone, itās delightful.
I was recovering from some health stuff for a few days and it was the exact speed I was looking for - After the slow accumulation of little treats that TotK expects you to scour for to make progression, I found the denser world and more direct progression refreshing. Two very different experiences tho, so as long as expectations are set right, I think both can be a good time if you lean into the creative aspects of them.
I will say, given the breezy difficulty and shallower depth throughout, the amount of story dialogue felt a little excessive at times. Some of the emotional beats they seemed to be reaching for felt like a stretch given the presentation - tho maybe younger folks might resonate with it more? Or maybe Iām dead inside? Who knows!
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I feel this, yeah. I donāt know that the story in a Zelda has ever felt quite this much like a Saturday morning cartoon. Like, the Zora storyline is every cartoon ever about two friends who arenāt talking to each other because of a dumb argument. I was a little surprised I didnāt have to invite them both to dinner and not tell them the other was coming
Everything else thatās been said about this game has been likeā¦ fine, Iāll just see how it goes. but this in particular on top of the general talkiness has me pretty sure I wonāt like the game at all.
Iām definitely more of a TotK guy than an Echoes guy but yeah I pretty much agree. I do wish it was more complicated at times just because I have to force myself not to use bed in 99% of situations, but itās a nice breezy time overall. I think the dungeons are what Iāve bumped against so far the most because just running around the field is fun. Its just when you play a dungeon and itās pretty much impossible to get tripped up by anything that Iām like well alright then.
And yes there are too many text boxes. I finished Gerudo yesterday and I really tuned that entire storyline out. I also never ask follow up questions when given the opportunity lol which is almost never how I play a game
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Yea, I think this is kind of what I mean about the creative aspects - A clear solution tends to present itself pretty quickly in Echoes and TotK, so Iāve enjoyed testing whether a more complicated or outlandish option might work.
The strongest beefed up Moblin Echo could easily be the key that fits 95% of combat locksā¦ but like, what about a pile of crows?
With the resources Nintendoās able to put into these, itās fun discovering whatās been considered or how particular mechanics interplay. Just a personal preference, though.
I like how sometimes the dungeons nudge you into learning / thinking about new echoes, but yea, the 2d sections in particular felt a little more restrictive in options.
This would have been a very different game, but it couldāve been interesting if they approached the dungeons with same kind of game/boundary-breaking mentality they allowed in the overworld.
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I do like the crows. The crows are cool. Iāll try and come up with some more esoteric solutions to stuff as I go just to see if I can enjoy it more, but I also do just like climbing the spider as well so itās fine either way. Just donāt think itāll be a high tier Zeldy for me. It does feel like thereās enough here that another one like this could be quite good, though I do āechoā the panelās opinion that its kinda wack that she has to go Link mode to kick ass. Make it Sheik mode and the game is automatically better
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Man, why wasnāt it Sheik mode?! Itās a little lame that in the āfirstā Zelda-starring game thereās just a button to turn you into Link. It is at least mostly optional. Except for those special spiderwebs or whatever, Iāve tried to avoid using Link mode. Peahat has been my main because of its good damage-per-second and floatability (and I like whispering āGo Peahat!ā to myself).
I like the breeziness of the game so far. I donāt mind the difficulty level. I wish the dialogue was as breezy as the gameplay, though. Iām usually ready to start doing my next thing 3 dialogue boxes earlier than the game lets me.
The thing Iām most looking forward to are the eventual speedruns. A game that lets you generate so many dynamic objects seems like a boundary break playground.
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I just got the game and made it to Gerudo Village. Iām currently trying to 100% the mango minigame before moving on to that dungeon.
Having the easy ability to climb over mountains or walk on treetops feels odd. I think just because Iāve played a lot of games that use the same camera perspective, it feels like Iām breaking some unspoken rule of using your imagination. Cliffs and mountains are supposed to be abstracted obstacles, but I can just trampoline over them into a different biome. A row of trees which might represent an entire forest you shouldnāt go down in another game can now just turn into a platform to walk on. It feels like Iām doing something I shouldnāt be doing. In the same way that TOTKās āAscendā ability rewired my brain, I feel like thatās what this game wants to do too. I donāt know what I feel about that yet. I think the overworld designers did a good job transitioning from one biome to another this way (even though performance chokes and waypoints are designed to make sure you donāt have to do it.)
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Sorry I havenāt been keeping up / not here for the post launch hype, but I fully assume this game is rad and look forward to eventually playing it. Itās very compatible with my current gameboy pocket obsession. Though a LA style demake in black & white would be an absolute dream come true.
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I beat Zora Zone Zero and rescued Hyrule Castle and the dialogue is the main thing Iām hung up on and getting reminded of constantly. There is just too much emphasis on it and the writing feels empty. Itās not even that there are one-note characters, theyāre all zero note. You really donāt need a ton of context to make a Zelda story, and the plot setup of this one is decent enough. But there is too much dialogue and it makes the game feel even more on the rails then it actually is.
Between this, TOTK and Age of Calamity, it really feels like Nintendo is misinterpreting the praise that Zelda gets for its storytelling. I think the existence of lore master videos and timeline speculation has them put a little too much emphasis on making the games feel like they have to fit together. Their stories are at their best when it gets you to use your imagination and has quirky or offbeat stuff that disarms you, but I think they think they interpret it as having a simple/basic story and hitting a formula.
Iām hoping the game opens up for me a bit more now. Already now that I can collect outfits Iām much more into Zeldaās character. It would have been a huge waste if she was dressed as Link the whole game.
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