Let's talk about the core gameplay mechanic of the upcoming Echoes of Wisdom, which wants to break the conventions of traditional top-down Zelda games by sticking to the convention of developing the entire game and story around one or two features. What was the wolf in Twilight Princess, the shrinking in The Minish Cap, or the train and Phantom in Spirit Tracks, that's going to be the Tri Rod here, a staff that let's you copy and paste both objects and enemies.
On top of that, they are giving Zelda a companion with the fairy Tri, who is also directly tied to this main ability, just like Midna, Ezelo, or... well, Zelda herself used to be. Now, the Tri Rod was designed as a tool for a playable Zelda, but it may also be that its existence is the reason why they've decided to make Zelda playable. Whether it's the Cucco or the egg, we don't know yet.
But placing objects with a staff feels very reminiscent of the Cane of Somaria from A Link to the Past and Oracle of Ages, where it was even used for platforms during side scrolling sections in the latter. It's a lot more versatile here, where it rivals the Autobuild from Tears of the Kingdom, but technically this is an item that they also could have given to Link.
What wouldn't be as interesting with Link is summoning monsters, however, because it's probably faster to fight them yourself with your sword and other weapons. In Tears of the Kingdom you can summon allies to your side or build machines that fight autonomously, but if you truly want to get the job done, you will take action and draw your weapon. So, this might be one of the main reasons why we're playing as Zelda this time, because with her you have to rely a lot more on the summons.
Of course we don't know yet what her other abilities are going to be. She may also get items that let her fight more actively or from a distance, e.g. a bow with different types of arrows. Maybe you can even fuse echoes to arrows and then shoot beds (just kidding). We will have to see about that.
But it looks like the Tri Rod is truly the main focus, the main gimmick. It's featured in the game's logo and title after all, so it probably won't be one of multiple super-crazy abilities, like how the Ultrahand in Tears of the Kingdom existed next to Fuse and Recall. That may not be the case here, but that's also not really needed for a smaller Zelda game.
The Tri Rod already breaks many of the boundaries that existed in your traditional top-down experience. Trees used to be obstacles, which often acted as walls within the environments of games like Link's Awakening. Here you can build stairs out of junk and then climb on top of the trees. Walls aren't obstacles any longer as well. The Tri Rod is essentially what the climbing was for Breath of the Wild, a complete game changer.
It will have its limits, though. In Breath of the Wild nothing was stopping you from climbing the highest mountain right after the game's tutorial. There is the stamina wheel, but you just counter this with the over-powered food system. In Echoes of Wisdom it looks like this is tied to your fairy companion, Tri.
In the beginning Tri has a tail of three triangles, like little Triforces or Force Gems. Each object costs at least one of these triangles, so in the beginning you can only summon three basic objects at once. In the footage this already increases to four, where this is likely part of the progression in the game. So, you won't be able to climb Death Mountain with a stair made out of 100 beds right away...
Enemies can even cost more, where the Moblins use up two triangles each and the Redead three. Smaller enemies, like Keese, may still only cost one, so it likely depends on the usefulness of the enemy and object in question to balance things out.
There also need to be limitations in what you can copy. It looks like only certain objects in the environment are viable. And it would be heavily overpowered if you could create echoes of fairies, for example, that keep healing you on the spot... Or if you could summon the game's bosses to your aid.
But that it needs such limitations already shows the potential. Out of all the core mechanics the Zelda series has seen over the years, it's safe to say that the Tri Rod is one of the most creative and enabling. Still, we will have to see for ourselves if this is enough to carry the game.
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