Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

I’m loving the way the map is basically the ALttP Hyrule but extended with the surrounding areas making it closer to BotW’s Hyrule.

Like, of course Gerudo Town is just further west from the Desert Palace, and of course Faron Woods and the sea are just a little bit farther to the east- the heroes from ALttP/ALBW just never bothered to check.

Speaking of that, I do love the fact the Desert Palace and the cistern/that building that drains the water from ALttP are still there in their correct spots as pure decoration. Looking forward to seeing what other landmarks remain.

I'm only about an hour in, but really enjoying it so far. The art style and graphics are utterly charming, and the 'Echoes' mechanic is pretty cool... I'm enjoying figuring everything out, and what items are best for particular situations. (I only figured out by chance that you can 'echo' a bed, which allows you to rest in and recover hearts)

Anyone else playing on 'Hero' difficulty? I started on this, and am pleased to see there is a degree of challenge - which is nice, as I don't want this game to be a cakewalk!

Only niggle for me so far is the FPS drops. Nothing major, and the frequency isn't too bad, but they are certainly noticeable. Gameplay-wise it hasn't really affected my experience (not like it would for something that is reliant on quick/fighting inputs - Sekiro etc) but hoping a patch might smooth out performance.

I am no FPS snob btw, having happily played BG3 on steamdeck around~25fps, but I always hope/expect a bit better from Nintendo. Although in fairness, they are pushing this hardware to its limits.... time for the successor to land hey

I also completed the first dungeon last night and decided to save shortly after since it was getting close to 11:15pm and I have work today.

That first boss was really cool. I knew exactly what to do and what echoes to use. But my silly self completely forgot once you knocked the orbs out, to use sword fighter form. So I was sitting there yelling at my screen telling the moblins to throw them spears faster! Haha. All good fun though, it just took me twice as long to beat him. . Love the map, the music, the sound effects, the art style, everything really. I was definitely luke warm on this game at its reveal, but now I'm completely hooked and can't wait to see what's next.

I will say though, it's a little more slow paced because of the combat and I do wish zelda could at the very least use her staff to hit, and maybe even stun enemies.

I can't believe they brought back my least favorite Zelda boss, Smog from Oracle Of Ages. It's such a deep cut, I'm not even mad.

@NintendoByNature Regarding the first boss ...

It didn't even occur to me to use the sword. I just spammed the orb with sea urchins which were almost as fast as sword strikes and worked pretty well.
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It's impressive how many different ways you can do things in this game but it still somehow feels polished and not too open ended.

I’m shocked by how much I’m loving this game. It’s incredibly addicting, and I hate that I have to work today because I’m just thinking of this game. I just reached the Zora region and it’s really fascinating—I won’t go into too much detail, but I like how there is a prominent storyline here. I’ve completed the first dungeon, got a few heart pieces, and done a handful of side-quests.

@FishyS interesting. I switched out to perhaps during the second half of the fight.

@Eel awesome to hear about the map. I was kinda hoping that it would draw from LttP. Picking up next Friday!!!

I'm addicted to making smoothies now. My first 2 were a failure but then I made 15 successful ones in a row.

@FishyS
Is there any fancy activities like ACNH in the game considering princess Zelda can summon furnitures Echo?

Only a couple furniture interactions so far-- she can sleep on bed echoes and hide inside pot echoes. I don't think there are chair echoes but I may be wrong.

This is a small thing but I really like the little Paper Mario-style spin move you can do on R. Has all the benefits of the classic roll move with the added bonus of cutting away tall grass. It's also just really fun to do.

@FishyS Didn't know you could hide in the pots! Neat.

The spin is neat. In fact, you can also perform the move under water and can get an extra boost, and the animation is different too. It’s the small details that are really interesting!

@NeonMullet from the short (not short at all) time I spent playing yesterday, it looks and performs exactly the same as Links Awakening.

@StarryCiel omg for real? That’s just so cool tbh, I already felt like the river/sea zora name was a reference to Ages (since no other games really call them that), but that cements it, they do remember the Oracle games!

@NeonMullet oh yes very much

Personally I'm not super sensitive to frame rate but I noticed it just a little in Link's Awakening and not at all so far in Echoes. The fact that the action is relatively slow-paced and the art is generally just insanely beautiful probably helps fps be less noticable for me at least. And I'm playing docked in internal storage which may help a bit.

I'm still early in the game but this looks likely to end up near the top of my favorite Zelda games. I know it's sacrilege to say, but Echoes seems more polished than BotW so far.

My local Target had sold out of copies by around 12pm yesterday, which seems like a good sign sales-wise (or could mean Big N is just limiting physical inventory). Had to order it from Walmart instead. My copy arrived today and I could only play 15 minutes before work, but I'm hooked! Every character is out here calling Link "green swordsman" like they don't know who he is, very interesting premise.

I would’ve normally preordered physical from Amazon Mexico, but they’re having issues with delays and lost packages lately because in order to ship to my state, shipments have to go through a distribution center in Sinaloa first… And that state is currently having… Issues…

So I instead went digital for this one. Even went the full mile and bought a pair of vouchers instead of just the game alone.

_{Now I have to decide what to spend the other voucher on…}

...I swear, some of these enemy echoes are completely useless in battle. Like, the only ones that have been actually helping me so far is Darknut and the scorpion. (Peahat was okay at first until it just started constantly flying UNDER flying enemies and never hitting them, ugh) Seriously feel like I'm just better off going into Sword mode and killing them myself sometimes. x_x

There needs to be a toilet echo. lol

@Joeynator3000
I wish there is anvil Echo so i can start the overture of Anvil Chorus Tiny Toons style while slaying over the enemies with anvils from the sky. 😆
The game have Wind Cannon Echo so i can start another overture The 1812 while slaying the enemies with cannon blast.