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 ~
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.
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.
