I'm really looking forward to this in 3 more days!
Despite having quite a few other games in my backlog I'm going to spend all weekend playing as much of it as I can.
I watched the first trailer, then a few minutes of the gameplay before I decided I'm definitely going to pick it up, so I might as well go in blind and avoid information about the summons.
Although if anyone has looked at spoilers I'd be interested to know if there's a rough game length known yet? LA:HD was 15-20, so I was assuming it would be somewhere around that long.
I'm disappointed the first two parts didn't explain why they choose Zelda instead of relying on Link since it's clear that the prototype did feature Link copying and pasting stuff. But I guess that's for tomorrow's part 3, though it is apparent to me as to why.
Copying enemies to serve as your allies against other enemies really has no point if you can just kill your enemies with a sword. It's easier that way. So what kind of a situation would require you to depend on your echoes to do the fighting for you? If you yourself cannot attack. But Link without a sword is simply not Link. There are times where he has no melee weapon, but those are segments that's supposed to deviate from the normal gameplay. The normal gameplay for this Zelda game is swordless and it would be strange for Link to not simply pick up a sword from the enemy since BOTW. But if it's out of character for Link not to have a sword, then who would be in character to be swordless most of the time?
Why Princess Zelda, of course. Sure she has a sword in some incarnations, but others like BOTW Zelda emphasize on her magic and wisdom to get out of trouble rather than a melee weapon. And then everything fits perfectly.
Also, I notice that the recent trailers have stopped emphasizing Tri to be a fairy. They just call Tri an ethereal creature in the latest overview trailer rather than fairy. I think we should update the description.
Edited by Shadao on Sep 23rd 2024 at 3:32:51 AM
Played up through the first dungeon, and did a couple small side quests, having fun so far. I'm still not used to the controls - I have a bad habit of pressing up on the D-Pad, which wastes some of the Sword Gauge. But I'll get used to it. I also keep forgetting the Binding mechanic, which has made at least one puzzle harder then it needed to be until I remembered it.
I liked the little armadillo enemy as an echo early on. Weak, but fun to just hurl them at other weak early game enemies. But once I got the Darknut and Sword Moblin, those are my go to attack echoes now (Or Guoy if I need a flier).
I'm looking forward to more traversal echeos, though. The string spider (blanking on its name) is a neat climbing tool.
Early story spoilers ahead, but I'll tag it all the same, since some of them aren't from until after the first dungeon.
I like the idea of learning about this Hyrule's Link from an outsider perspective. He's already been on this whole journey before Zelda, and has already helped people who remember him for it. This Zelda hasn't even met him yet. And Ganon from the intro is just "the blue monster" so I assume he's still our main antagonist. I also didn't expect the rifts to be a known factor, but apparently Hyrule has been facing them for quite awhile already. My only real concern with the story at this point is that, since Link is usually a mostly blank slate for the player to project to, now that Zelda's the playable character, it'll be swapped around. That's not a huge deal, but I think it does speak to some of that "If we have Zelda be the playable character, how do we make her unique from Link" problem Nintendo talked about - That writing wise, they don't have much to differentiate her.
Zelda will learn Link's misery of helping NP Cs with a tedious annoying side quest and getting a cash reward while having a maxed out wallet.
-Witty line-Completed the Gerudo Desert rift. The Gerudo Sanctum was a fun dungeon - More complex layout, a couple more tricksy puzzles, and great music. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this Golden Fan I won from the fruit harvesting minigame, though.
I'd like to find some different outfit options soon, but I don't know if there's a shop somewhere or treasure to find or some other third thing.
On to the next one! Oh... Jabu-Jabu's been rampaging, has he? Where have I heard that one before?
Edited by diddyknux on Sep 26th 2024 at 12:05:50 PM
![]()
![]()
I don't have it yet. However you get it, I didn't get over the course of the region's main quest.
Edit: Okay, I did look up some of the outfits and spoiled myself a little bit. You can't start acquiring new ones until a certain point in the game. Once Zelda isn't WANTED anymore.
Edited by diddyknux on Sep 26th 2024 at 3:05:14 AM
Finally put some hours into this. Beat the first dungeon!
Holy crud Zelda games have dungeons again i am so happy.
It's funny playing a Zelda game with classic style but modern dressing. Like the gameplay and camera is 100% classic Zelda that harkens back to ALTTP and all but the pause screens, quest log and item sub-menus are ripped almost directly from BOTW era Zelda. Probably makes sense to newer fans but it's giving me a bit of whiplash. Certainly feels like they're taking the best parts of the old and the new.
But damn this really is a completely new perspective man. There's so many neat little nods. Like there's the obvious implication Link went on this grand adventure to stop Ganon before the game began but since he didn't really tell anyone about it people are just sort of piecing together what this random village kid did on the outskirts of town. That's hilarious. 😂 Like yeah Link really wasn't at the center of things in most Zelda games. He was spelunking around in dungeons and alternate dimensions to save the world, not slaying dragons in front of a big crowd or leading a army. He'd earn the gratitude of a select few but to the average onlooker he was just some dude that would blitz through the town market, scare the chickens 🐔 , and spend a month's salary on some useless piece of heart-shaped jewelry. Then the ominous dark tower in the distance would collapse for some reason and you went about your day.
This game takes that idea and really runs with it. A few people are like "He's the world's last hope!" And some are like "Oh yeah, good kid. He mowed my lawn once."
As for the first dungeon, i need to ask EVERYONE how they beat the Dark Link Echo. Like that really seems to be a part of the game that's like "You have a ton of tools at your disposal. Go nuts and see what happens." And there must be a ton of ways to beat him. Personally i used a Moblin to distract him and then snuck up behind and bashed his head in with a rock.
Ironically the actual dungeon boss barely encourages the use of echoes at all. While it's probably still possible to defeat him with echoes he's basically meant to be downed by the simple bind-pull into swordfighter form combo. Not that I mind, like i said earlier i think that's just a good example of the game fusing the oldschool approach with the newschool approach.
You are not alone.
Yeah, it's actually rare people are aware of Link's great deeds.
Like, all his adventures usually take place in a vacuum or don't get any acknowledgement from the masses. Even in Twilight Princess, when he's liberating people from the twilight, he has to do it incognito.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"

Game releases this week, so thought it was high time Echoes of Wisdom got its own topic. Also, the game has at this point leaked out there - please refrain from talking about leaked info, at the very least do not do so without clear forwarning. And definitely be prepared to spoiler tag in this topic when necessary, now and after the game launches.
Overview trailer:
Purchased my copy today for pre-loading. Very much looking forward to digging into the echoes mechanic and seeing how much freedom and experimentation it really offers. I'm also wondering what the opening segments of the game will be like? I don't know if it would really require an extensive "tutorial area" like BOTW and TOTK have. (Just wondering to myself I mean, I'm not actually asking)