Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Echoes of Wisdom ~ Update Suggestions

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom title screen, ver. 2.0.0

No game is ever perfect, but in the age of updates and DLC there is at least the chance that player feedback will be taken into consideration to improve things. However, only two Zelda games got major updates and content additions in the past, Tri Force Heroes and Breath of the Wild, so it's not very likely that Echoes of Wisdom will follow their examples these days.

Nevertheless, it's worth looking into what could be done, where we always should give Nintendo and Grezzo some ideas. These ideas are not meant to be overly ambitious, however, so we want this to be something that could realistically be implemented as part of an update, whether that's free or paid DLC.

Most importantly, the 2.0.0 update should address the performance issues. They are mostly caused by loading things when you walk around in the overworld and there is probably something that can be optimized here. With that out of the way, let's move on to the good stuff...


~ Tower of Hebra ~

This is a new, optional challenge dungeon, similar to the Treacherous Tower from A Link Between Worlds. You will be able to find it in the Hebra Mountains, where it's meant to represent the old Tower of Hera. Tri can't enter the dungeon, so you won't be able to use your echoes or Bind, which means that you have to entirely rely on the Swordfighter Form and Automatons. You will also need the Mysterious Bombs / Bombs of Might in order to enter it.

As usual, you will have to fight through a number of floors filled with enemies. Whenever you beat a floor, it spawns a crystal that lets you refill all your energy. You can always return there, in case you run out, but this will reset the floor above. And there is a new boss at the end waiting, which is of course none other than Moldorm.

After beating Moldorm at the top of the tower, you can enter the Stilled Tower of Hebra, where now you have to reach its bottom. Tri will join you again, so you're free to use your echoes, but you will mainly be fighting the shadow enemies, where the Swordfighter Form is advantageous. You will have to rebattle all three variants of the Imposter Link and fight a new version of him at the end, who is able to use all three of his weapons at the same time.


~ New Echoes ~

The update will feature three new echoes, bringing the total up to 130. These include one new object and two new enemies:

  • Vire (4▼)
  • Boomerang Boarblin Lv. 3 (5▼)
  • Energy Crystal (6▼)

Vire returns here from the Link's Awakening remake and it will split up into two smaller bats if it receives too much damage. The third tier Boomerang Boarblin throws a large, circular boomerang made out of bones, just like the Boomeranger from Tri Force Heroes. Both are featured in the Tower of Hebra, but since you can't use your Tri Rod there, they can also be found in a new cave inside the crater of Eldin Volcano. You will first need to clear Eldin Temple to enter it.

As for the Energy Crystal...


~ New Slumber Dojo Trainings ~

The Final Titans' Gathering

There will be a number of new battle challenges available in the Slumber Dojo. For them to unlock, you will need to have defeated all the enemies and bosses featured in them.

  • EX Strongest of All: All four Lv3 monsters and a Lynel at once.
  • EX Imposters' Revenge: All four battles against the Imposter Link.
  • EX Lanmolas' Revenge: All three versions of the Lanmola... at once!
  • EX Playing a Game: Both battles against Smog one after another.
  • EX Guardians' Gathering: Lord Jabu-Jabu, Slime Eye, and Manhandla.
  • EX Secret Titans' Gathering: Bori, Volcanic Talus, and Moldorm.

This serves mainly as a way of repeating all mini-bosses and optional bosses. But you will also get more options for earning Golden Eggs, where right now "The Final Titans' Gathering" is the only way to do that, which takes a bit longer. And there are some new outfits and accessories as rewards, which leads us to the next sections...


~ New Accessories ~

With the update you can find a variety of new accessories in different places, which give you some new effects to utilize.

  • Cloudy Feather: Crumble-Proof
  • Earrings of Might: Unlimited Sword Beams
  • Pegasus Boots: Walk Speed Up
  • Scepter of Power: Echo Damage Up
  • Courageous Compass: Monster Appearance Up

The Cloudy Feather makes you lightweight, so that cracked floors don't crumble. But that's not all, clouds also won't dissolve below your feet any longer, which includes your cloud echoes. It's a reward in the Tower of Hebra.

Beating the Stilled Tower of Hebra earns you the Earrings of Might. Wearing them will let you always shoot sword beams in Swordfighter Form, even if you are not at full health or don't have the Level 3 Sword of Might yet.

The Pegasus Boots increase your walk speed to the same level as the Swordfighter Form. You won't go any faster with spinning, however. It can be purchased for 1000 Rupees at the Hyrule Castle Town Shop (the Stone Anklet can now be found in the shop at Goron City).

Holding the Scepter of Power will give a damage boost to all your echoes. The boost is the same for every monster, so it will be more significant for weaker monsters, for stronger ones not so much. It's the reward for beating the "EX Strongest of All" challenge in the Slumber Dojo.

Finally, the Courageous Compass serves as another way to make the game more challenging. Equipping it lets more monsters appear, where it works similar to the +Monsters Effect from the Chamber Dungeon in Link's Awakening. This means that the already existing monsters in the game get duplicated whenever possible. It doesn't work on very strong monsters, on bosses, or in the Slumber Dojo. You can find it in Link's house, so it can be acquired early in the game.


~ New Outfits ~

In addition to the accessories, you will also be able to obtain many more outfits, more than doubling than what's in the base game. Most of them are just for the looks, but some come with smaller perks or new interactions.

  • Dog Clothes (Let's you talk to dogs.)
  • Winter Parka (Protects you from cold.)
  • Angler Armor (Creates light around you.)
  • Cactus Costume (Enemies take damage when they touch you.)
  • Showgirl Dress (Attracts attention of enemies.)
  • Cheer Outfit
  • Island Dress (Marin)
  • Sheikah Garb (Sheik)
  • Pirate Captain (Tetra)

Some of these are just uninspired copies of the outfits in Tri Force Heroes, but since those are pretty much the same thing, they will work nicely in this game as well. The most important is probably the Winter Parka, which you can get from Condé. It lets you pass the snowstorms without freezing.

After completing the "Still Missing" main quest, a new clothing store will open at Hyrule Castle Town, where you can purchase a good number of the other new outfits. The rest of them are rewards from the new Slumber Dojo challenges. In addition, you can obtain some new recolors from scanning amiibo:

  • Blue Tunic (any Link amiibo)
  • Purple Tunic (any Link amiibo)
  • Pink Pajamas (any Zelda amiibo)
  • White Dog Clothes (other Legend of Zelda amiibo)

This works the same way as before.

Zelda flying through Hyrule with a crow while her hood is lowered

Finally, there should be an option to put down the hood while wearing the Disguise, once you've unlocked the option to change outfits. The modified outfit already exists in the game, where you can briefly play in this look right before you receive the Travel Attire. And Nintendo has used this quite extensively for their promotional materials... It's even featured on the game's box art, but you can't freely choose it for some reason.


~ Miscellaneous Improvements ~

The quick selection of echoes now will offer filters via the X button, which let you display only objects, monsters, or your favorites. The latter can be set via the A button. In addition, the notebook now will provide the same sorting options as the quick select.

On the map you can now view your "Heroine's Path", which is the same as the Hero's Path Mode from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, where it shows your journey via a green line. It records up to 100 hours of travel.

When you are in Swordfighter Form, you can now roll via the R button. This also works when playing as Link in the beginning of the game.

After completing the game, it will show you the total number of side quests, accessories, and outfits available (recolor outfits collected via amiibo will increase the total), exactly like with the echoes and automatons in the notebook.

4 comments:

Eduardo Jencarelli said...

Some good ideas worth developing for sure. I definitely missed the Pegasus Boots. Epona can't go everywhere, and I feel Zelda moves a bit on the slow side.

One missed opportunity to me (which a patch can't possibly fix) was not having more void to explore. Null's realm had potential. I expected it to be more of a Lorule/Dark World parallel world that would become more and more interconnected the more we fixed the rifts, and the more we explored and gained new echoes and accessories, with maybe even hidden special items to uncover. As it is, they remain being separate areas with no connection, and it never feels like a different world - only distinct sets of region-specific challenges.

I'm still trying to rank the game in comparison to the other 2D top-down Zelda entries (not counting Zelda 2, the multiplayer games or the CD-I ones). To me, at least for now, Echoes doesn't rank as highly as say, the original NES Zelda, A Link to the Past/Between Worlds, Link's Awakening, or the Oracle games. I do think it ranks higher than the DS Zeldas and maybe even Minish Cap. The expanded world in comparison to A Link to the Past/Between Worlds certainly helps, but I would have liked more focus and exploration of the void areas.

And aside from the superb Hyrule Castle, Lanayru and Faron temples, most dungeons felt underdeveloped and overly short - not nearly enough navigational puzzles - we're led to the rooms that will have the keys necessary to proceed. Too linear and guided. Though I did appreciate the in-between sidescrolling areas and their intricate design. Those areas were one of the best parts of the Oracle games. But overall, by taking design cues from Breath of the Wild/Tears, the game also ended up developing the overworld far more than the dungeons.

TourianTourist said...

While I personally rank it higher than you do, I do agree with your points. Both the Still World and the dungeons are lacking, which is a shame.

Eduardo Jencarelli said...

I think it's because it's reusing a lot of the same Hyrule. Not surprisingly, my favorite areas were the new ones, especially Jabul Waters and the Zora sea. That's one of the reasons I've placed the Oracle games a notch above. I've always felt Holodrum and Labrynna to be new and exciting places that weren't same old Hyrule, especially areas like Tarm Ruins and Crescent Island.

I might reconsider my current ranking once I've replayed it for Hero mode. There are echoes I didn't take full advantage of the first time around, such as the block Thwomp-like enemy from the desert, because I didn't realize you could make it an echo until after I finished the game. That one would trivialize a lot of the overworld, much like the water block echo that I used and abused. There's a lot of stuff I have yet to discover with them, which warrants that replay. We'll see.

TourianTourist said...

Two updates to the post:

- The Stilled Tower of Hera should let you use Tri again. It wouldn't make sense otherwise and this way you get two very different experiences.
- There should be a variant of the Disguise with the hood down. It's even already in the game...