Up to this point Nintendo has revealed 33 of all the 36 costumes in the game! They really love spoiling everything in advance. I'm not too mad though, because you probably could just check the crafting recipes to see what's there. And at least I know now that the costumes won't disappoint, unlike the Medals in Skyward Sword. That was so much wasted potential and I kept hoping through the game that there would be more of the Medals. But the costumes seem to be a very good feature adding strategy and replay value to the game. Check out the full list of all known costumes on Zelda Wiki. Or don't and stop reading this post now, because there will be costume spoilers!
In the demo there were six different costumes: Hero Tunic, Kokiri Clothes, Legendary Dress, Lucky Loungewear, Tingle Tights, Spin Attack Attire. It was only one sixth of what the final game has to offer and I already have been intrigued by the options...
Now, the costumes are very similar to the Magic Rings from Oracle of Ages & Seasons - so far one of my absolute favorite collectibles in the series. The costumes might be less in number, but they are more fleshed out and offer better variety. But they also bring back some of the abilities from the rings. Especially the Cozy Parka and Dunewalker Duds really take me back to the rings, because the abilities to walk on ice and quicksand only ever appeared in the Oracle games... it's nice to have interesting perks like this back.
And you might even make better use of these perks than back then. You could only wear one ring for the effect and only carry five rings around. To switch them you had to back to the ring shop and for the most time you would probably just bring something very valuable like the Red, Blue or Green Ring, but forgot about the small perks like the Snowshoe Ring. And only if you really knew the dungeons, you were able to bring the right rings for the job. But in Tri Force Heroes you simply select one costume from your entire collection before a level, which then mostly adds to the replay value. At first you might pick something to strengthen one of the three available items and later on, if you know a stage well, you know what costumes will be the best choice for the stage.
Well, here is what costumes you could compare to what rings (though some of them are only similar or related, not the exact same abilities):
The Jack and Queen of Hearts costumes also are akin to the Life Medals in Skyward Sword. They are also one of two cases, where a costume has a better version available making the first one obsolete. The rings did this in many cases, in some cases the L-2 was even easier to find than the L-1 (e.g. Heart Ring). But here the better version cost a lot more materials and Rupees, so you start with the easier to get costumes. The second case is the Lady's Ensemble, which replaces Zelda's Dress. I really don't like this, because they look too different and it even feels like blasphemy to have that ugly thing over the Legendary Dress. They could have given the Lady's Ensemble some other strong ability, like the slow Regeneration of the Heart Rings...
Other abilities I'm still missing are the Blue Ring and the Steadfast Ring. Both could even be combined in some sort of heavy knight armor. You take half damage and enemy attacks won't throw you back as far. This would be quite helpful in the Bomb Storage stage from the demo, those Hardhat Beetles could be really dangerous. And we still haven't seen a costume, which upgrades the Gripshot, or a Bee Costume to replace the Bee Medal from A Link Between Worlds and to bring back bees. Let's see, what the final three costumes will be, but those would be my bets.
PS: The Lantern actually was turned into a costume. Nice idea! And I still hope that there will be a(n ice) shield in the game, because having no shield at all feels really weird. Of course then we would need another costume to upgrade said shield.
Update: No shield apparently, too bad. :( There's a funny Robo Suit upgrading the Gripshot, a "Show Stopper" costume attracting enemies and a "Sword Master Costume" (probably giving you something akin to the Master Sword, I don't know yet). And it seems you "only" need eight of the 15 Friendly Tokens for the costumes, you only get these tokens by playing locally with different people. And I was afraid that there would be another costume costing 7 of these.
In the demo there were six different costumes: Hero Tunic, Kokiri Clothes, Legendary Dress, Lucky Loungewear, Tingle Tights, Spin Attack Attire. It was only one sixth of what the final game has to offer and I already have been intrigued by the options...
Now, the costumes are very similar to the Magic Rings from Oracle of Ages & Seasons - so far one of my absolute favorite collectibles in the series. The costumes might be less in number, but they are more fleshed out and offer better variety. But they also bring back some of the abilities from the rings. Especially the Cozy Parka and Dunewalker Duds really take me back to the rings, because the abilities to walk on ice and quicksand only ever appeared in the Oracle games... it's nice to have interesting perks like this back.
And you might even make better use of these perks than back then. You could only wear one ring for the effect and only carry five rings around. To switch them you had to back to the ring shop and for the most time you would probably just bring something very valuable like the Red, Blue or Green Ring, but forgot about the small perks like the Snowshoe Ring. And only if you really knew the dungeons, you were able to bring the right rings for the job. But in Tri Force Heroes you simply select one costume from your entire collection before a level, which then mostly adds to the replay value. At first you might pick something to strengthen one of the three available items and later on, if you know a stage well, you know what costumes will be the best choice for the stage.
Well, here is what costumes you could compare to what rings (though some of them are only similar or related, not the exact same abilities):
- Bear Minimum Digs ↔ Cursed Ring
- Big Bomb Outfit ↔ Blast Ring
- Cheetah Costume ↔ Pegasus Ring
- Cozy Parka ↔ Snowshoe Ring
- Dunewalker Duds ↔ Quicksand Ring
- Legendary Dress ↔ Blue Joy Ring (even received from Zelda!)
- Rupee Regalia ↔ Red Joy Ring
- Spin Attack Attire ↔ Spin Ring
- Sword Suit ↔ Red Ring + Light Ring
- Timeless Tunic ↔ First Gen Ring
- Zora Costume ↔ Swimmer's Ring (and maybe Zora Ring)
The Jack and Queen of Hearts costumes also are akin to the Life Medals in Skyward Sword. They are also one of two cases, where a costume has a better version available making the first one obsolete. The rings did this in many cases, in some cases the L-2 was even easier to find than the L-1 (e.g. Heart Ring). But here the better version cost a lot more materials and Rupees, so you start with the easier to get costumes. The second case is the Lady's Ensemble, which replaces Zelda's Dress. I really don't like this, because they look too different and it even feels like blasphemy to have that ugly thing over the Legendary Dress. They could have given the Lady's Ensemble some other strong ability, like the slow Regeneration of the Heart Rings...
Other abilities I'm still missing are the Blue Ring and the Steadfast Ring. Both could even be combined in some sort of heavy knight armor. You take half damage and enemy attacks won't throw you back as far. This would be quite helpful in the Bomb Storage stage from the demo, those Hardhat Beetles could be really dangerous. And we still haven't seen a costume, which upgrades the Gripshot, or a Bee Costume to replace the Bee Medal from A Link Between Worlds and to bring back bees. Let's see, what the final three costumes will be, but those would be my bets.
PS: The Lantern actually was turned into a costume. Nice idea! And I still hope that there will be a(n ice) shield in the game, because having no shield at all feels really weird. Of course then we would need another costume to upgrade said shield.
Update: No shield apparently, too bad. :( There's a funny Robo Suit upgrading the Gripshot, a "Show Stopper" costume attracting enemies and a "Sword Master Costume" (probably giving you something akin to the Master Sword, I don't know yet). And it seems you "only" need eight of the 15 Friendly Tokens for the costumes, you only get these tokens by playing locally with different people. And I was afraid that there would be another costume costing 7 of these.
2 comments:
Are you going to write about your playthrough of Tri Force Heroes? I enjoy a lot reading about your experiences.
Also, what do you think about Skull Kid being playable in Hyrule Warriors Legends?
@Lankelink:
Sorry, I didn't write about my playthrough, because I tried to play as much with other people, as I could. Since this was not the typical personal experience, I didn't feel like writing about it.
About Skull Kid: he should have been in the Majora's Mask DLC instead of Tingle. Tingle even fits the new Wind Waker setting a lot better...
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