It feels a bit odd to play this game already, maybe because this was only announced a little over three months ago, kept close to Nintendo's chest. But here we are. As always, I go through my experience and thoughts while playing the game, step by step.
In this first entry I'll talk about the beginning of the game, including the first dungeon, which is essentially what was demoed and shown by previews. I had a pretty good picture of what was awaiting me here, but not all of it, so it was interesting to finally experience it myself and as a whole.
And I must say... I didn't like it. It's not because of the game mechanics – I enjoy both the echoes and the Swordfighter mode so far, and it's quite fun to "collect" all those things from the environment to make them part of your arsenal. But because of this new ability Grezzo felt that they need to make it heavily tutorialized and very linear, which is the opposite of how I want a Zelda game to go.
It's not that it needs to be 100% open from the start. It makes sense to set some boundaries and steer you towards one dungeon, especially in the early game. Link's Awakening does the same and that's my absolute favorite Zelda game, after all... The difference is that within those boundaries the Game Boy classic usually gives you some good amount of freedom. The Mysterious Woods are quite open, for example, and the Tail Cave always offers you multiple directions to take. It makes things more interesting.
In the beginning of Echoes of Wisdom, however, you are funneled on every step of the way. There are some optional caves at the sidelines, but otherwise you are following a line. The Suthorn Ruins are probably the most linear dungeon that I have played in quite some time and that's sickening. At least they didn't force you to play a mini-game where you have to herd goats, but it was getting close to that territory. It even took me two whole hours to get out of that tutorial phase...
In that sense it probably wasn't the best idea to replay Link's Awakening before this, since that game handles its linear approach a lot more nicely. Also, it took me a while to get used to the controls, because here you jump with B and the sword is on Y, while it was the other way around for me in Link's Awakening, which allowed Ganon to kick my butt quite hard, though I still managed to win. But I do actually prefer the controls of Echoes of Wisdom, since "attack with Y, jump/dodge with B" is quite common in Action Adventures these days.
It also surprised me to see that you have the Swordsman's Bombs in the beginning of the game as well, which are used with the A button. This somehow has completely eluded me from all the preview materials, but that's of course another upgrade that you will get for the Swordfighter mode at some point. I also love how overpowered the Swordsman's Bow is, where you can charge it to shoot three arrows at once.
That's a really good system, I'm not sure why they have never done this before, because this feels so natural. The triple arrows were either some general bow upgrade, or a special bow, a perk from a costume (the Kokiri Clothes), or something similar. Well, the Slingshot in Four Swords Adventures worked like that, so I guess it was done before... just not with a bow.
Arrows and bombs are also unlimited, like in all the multiplayer games, but that makes sense here and only adds to the feeling of power. You could spam arrows at everything like a madman and it felt great. This is, of course, to give you a good taste of what Zelda's swordfighter form will offer later on, just more balanced due to its timer.
Anyway, despite being so linear I thought that the opening sequence of Link fighting Ganon was really strong. This game starts where many other classic Zelda games end and that's epic. You even get 20 full Heart Containers for the battle, and some of Ganon's attack will take away three hearts at once. This was a really cool sequence.
Then you take control of Zelda and run from a rift, where I was inclined to see what happens if the rift catches you, but too afraid that this might result in a Game Over... There is no damage from falling into an abyss in the game, however, which has been done before, but it's a rarity.
Afterwards you are brought to Hyrule Castle Town and can look around for a bit. It's so much funnier to go into people's houses and break pots as Zelda, especially since people react to it in this game. It's one thing to do it as Link, but as the royal princess it's just hilarious to act like a crazy person. In my case it was probably deserved that they have thrown her in jail right after...
It was also fun to mess around with the guards during the stealth section, where I like how it's not immediately over when they spot you, like it used to be the case in pretty much every Zelda game with a stealth section before. Ocarina of Time or The Minish Cap come to mind here. But it's noteworthy how both Zelda games that let you play as Zelda somehow, the other being Spirit Tracks, start off with sneaking out of Hyrule Castle...
Well, this is where you learn you most basic building echoes, but after reaching the Suthorn Village, it seems like many of the echoes you learn afterwards are purely optional, like the Peahat. They are found in the caves on the sidelines that I've mentioned earlier... And this makes me already wonder about something like a "minimal echo run", where you learn as few echoes as possible for beating the game.
Though, this idea only sounds fun on paper, because it might make the combat very awkward if you limit yourself like that. I found the Peahat to be especially helpful, which made it easy to take care of enemies like the Darknuts. And then the Darknuts turned out to be quite helpful fighting Link. Dropping Sea Urchins into an enemy's face works quite well, but I wouldn't want to do it for the entirety of the game. But with that particular echo it felt right to have them on the same button as your sword, because I was effectively going into melee combat.
As for the first dungeon, I already mentioned that it was simply too linear, but I do like how they have changed maps to include the side-scrolling tunnels. Finishing a dungeon also does a number of things at once. Most importantly, it restores the surrounding area to what it's supposed to be, where I was surprised to see that Tri's friends are simply lots and lots of little Tris.
Curiously, I found Tri to be the least annoying part of the tutorial. It showed up and talked to you a couple of times, but it always felt appropriate and I like the humor they are going with here. "You can't go through bars? Oh..."
Tri also receives another triangle for summoning echoes, and you get some Might Crystals, which can be used to either upgrade your Mysterious Sword or to extend the duration of swordfighter mode, your choice.
This is done at Lueburry's lab, this game's Sheikah scientist, who is exploring the rifts and has been doing so together with Link for quite some time, with the most Asian background music possible. You also learn here that Link has lost his ability to speak from the rifts, as an explanation why he doesn't talk in this particular game.
But other than Tri's triangles and the Might Crystals, which are both used for powering you up, there doesn't seem to be some MacGuffin item to collect from the dungeons. It's simply about clearing the rifts and that feels very natural.
Now, at this point you're given two destinations: large rifts above the Gerudo Desert and the Jabul Waters. So, I'm hopeful that my big complaint about the beginning of the game will resolve itself and things get more exploration-friendly from now on. I'll keep you posted...
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