New Trailer for Echoes of Wisdom (And Now Yet Another One!)

[vanguard333]

Nintendo released another trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which showed off some of the map as well as several more gameplay mechanics.

 

 

If you want to keep as much of the game's map and gameplay a surprise for yourself, I would suggest not watching the trailer. However, I doubt that this trailer showed everything there is to find on the map or in the gameplay.

Edited August 30 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

First time seeing real Zora's in a top down Zelda game I believe. That's nice. Also Deku Scrubs NPC's are back. I sure hope that means their theme's back too.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

First time seeing real Zora's in a top down Zelda game I believe. That's nice.

In my opinion the Classic Zora are the "real" zora. The 3D game Zoras are just mermen with funny dorsal fins on their head.

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

First time seeing real Zora's in a top down Zelda game I believe. That's nice. Also Deku Scrubs NPC's are back. I sure hope that means their theme's back too.

Oracle of Ages had the Sea Zora in it. In fact, it was Oracle of Ages that categorized them as Sea Zora and the other Zora as River Zora.

With shadow monsters appearing at the end of the trailer, and with Link having ended up in the rifts, I hope we get a boss fight against Shadow Link.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

When they first revealed this game, I thought it looked fine. Not outstanding, but fine. Seeing this new trailer, I still think the same. It looks fine. I'll probably end up checking it out since I love the Zelda series, but this doesn't look like it'll scratch the Zelda itch, for me.

[Etrurian emperor]

While not being the Zelda game I wanted by a long shot I can look past that. There are two things that concern me more.

The biggest concern is that they'll pull a Peach Showtime and will make it baby's first video game out of some misguided belief that it only appeals to girls and girls apparently not being able to handle more according to Nintendo. Oh, Nintendo. 

The second is the graphics. I just don't vibe with this playmobile style they introduced with Links Awakening. I think it looks plastic and off putting. 

Edited August 6 by Etrurian emperor

[vanguard333]

4 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

While not being the Zelda game I wanted by a long shot I can look past that. There are two things that concern me more.

The biggest concern is that they'll pull a Peach Showtime and will make it baby's first video game out of some misguided belief that it only appeals to girls and girls apparently not being able to handle more according to Nintendo. Oh, Nintendo. 

The second is the graphics. I just don't vibe with this playmobile style they introduced with Links Awakening. I think it looks plastic and off putting. 

I don't think they're going to dumb down the game for two reasons: the first is that Nintendo really seems to want to emphasize that this is a mainline Zelda game, and the second reason is that they also are emphasizing the "wisdom" aspect of the game. I wouldn't be surprised if this game is focused a lot more on puzzle-solving than usual for a Zelda game to emphasize the "wisdom" aspect.

I can understand disliking the graphics; I was not expecting it to appear again after Link's Awakening since the graphics fit the idea that the game took place within a dream. That said, whenever I hear people dislike the graphics, I get flashbacks to how a lot of people disliked Wind Waker's graphics when it released, only for everyone to love the Wind Waker's graphics ten years later.

 

One thing I find interesting is all the different things that people assume are new to this game but in fact appeared earlier in the Zelda series. Here's the ones I've noticed:

1. First playable Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
2. First top-down game with a horse (Four Swords Adventures)
3. First game to distinguish "Sea Zora" and "River Zora" (Oracle of Ages)

Anyone else noticed anything that people assume this game is the first to do, but actually has been done before in a Zelda game?

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Why doesn't Zelda just Bond herself to Ganon and drag him over a bottomless pit? Is she stupid?

In any case, it looks like there are going to be multiple ways to approach puzzles and enemies, rather than one specific solution. I think that has promise. I'm definitely here for the various outfits as well... even if they don't make that much difference in chibi proportions. But finally, the Gerudo outfit answers the question: "what if Zelda were a girl?".

19 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

First time seeing real Zora's in a top down Zelda game I believe.

17 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

In my opinion the Classic Zora are the "real" zora. The 3D game Zoras are just mermen with funny dorsal fins on their head.

 

17 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Oracle of Ages had the Sea Zora in it. In fact, it was Oracle of Ages that categorized them as Sea Zora and the other Zora as River Zora.

You're all wrong, there's Zoras and there's Zolas! Which one is which? Well, what do you think they're fighting about?

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

You're all wrong, there's Zoras and there's Zolas! Which one is which? Well, what do you think they're fighting about?

I realize that you're probably joking, but, to clarify for everyone else, Zolas are the small, green slime ball monsters. There's a scene in this trailer where a kid asks to see a Zola and Zelda creates an echo of one.

EDIT: The monsters I was thinking of are actually called Zols. Never mind.

Edited August 6 by vanguard333

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

EDIT: The monsters I was thinking of are actually called Zols. Never mind.

Darn, and I was just about to respond with a "gotcha"! I revisited the video. Hadn't heard of "Zols" until now.

Anyway, apparently Zola was an old mistranslation for the River Zora. Probably doesn't help that Japanese doesn't distinguish between "l" and "r" sounds. Hence giving us monstrosities like "Langobalt" from ランゴバルト.

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Darn, and I was just about to respond with a "gotcha"! I revisited the video. Hadn't heard of "Zols" until now.

Anyway, apparently Zola was an old mistranslation for the River Zora. Probably doesn't help that Japanese doesn't distinguish between "l" and "r" sounds. Hence giving us monstrosities like "Langobalt" from ランゴバルト.

Ah, I see. That makes sense.

Anyway, I've seen people speculate as to why Eldin Volcano is called Eldin Volcano and not Death Mountain. I think the reason is that, in the first trailer, we saw two mountains, and the other mountain is probably Death Mountain.

[Etrurian emperor]

I hope we see the Yiga return. They're an adorable bunch and you can craft all sorts of characters from them. Maybe even a whole village of Yiga NPC who are jerks but otherwise harmless. 

Now I know the Yiga are tied to the BOTW-verse but its not like Nintendo cares. The Rito were supposed to be descends of the Zora(somehow) yet they're both around in BOTW. Nintendo never let timeline or canon limit them much so the Yiga would be a weird place to draw the line. 

[vanguard333]

Nintendo just dropped yet another trailer for Echoes of Wisdom, and only three days after the Indie Direct & Partner Showcase. I really didn't think that they would drop another Echoes of Wisdom trailer until the game's release.

Here it is:

 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 8/30/2024 at 11:03 AM, vanguard333 said:

Nintendo just dropped yet another trailer for Echoes of Wisdom, and only three days after the Indie Direct & Partner Showcase. I really didn't think that they would drop another Echoes of Wisdom trailer until the game's release.

Here it is:

 

It's looking pretty awesome. That Sword she can pick up comes across as a "best of both worlds" compromise. In that, you can use Link's traditional moveset, but you're on a timer for it. That way, Zelda is mostly playing her own way, while not totally alienating longtime fans and series purists.

I haven't played a "new" Legend of Zelda title since Link Between Worlds, and let me just say, I am so ready for this game.

[vanguard333]

18 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's looking pretty awesome. That Sword she can pick up comes across as a "best of both worlds" compromise. In that, you can use Link's traditional moveset, but you're on a timer for it. That way, Zelda is mostly playing her own way, while not totally alienating longtime fans and series purists.

I haven't played a "new" Legend of Zelda title since Link Between Worlds, and let me just say, I am so ready for this game.

Yeah. I am a longtime Zelda fan, but I'm one that really enjoys the series' variety and doesn't like when a Zelda game plays too safe and leaves its unique aspects underutilized (Twilight Princess being one such example of a Zelda game that tried too hard to be like another Zelda game), so I was really looking forward to Zelda having her own unique gameplay in Echoes of Wisdom and I was concerned at first about swordfighter form, but it being on a timer should hopefully keep it from undermining the echo and bind mechanics.

Interesting; just wondering: why didn't you play Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom?

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Interesting; just wondering: why didn't you play Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom?

So, I'm at a time of my life where I realize that I only have so many hours in the day. Breath if the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom both sound like excellent, engrossing games. The kind that you could blink, and find you've spent 300 hours in. That's... honestly pretty intimidating. Especially when I already have a few Switch games that I've poured triple-digit hours into.

Echoes of Wisdom, by comparison, looks like an experience that I can get my mouth around. I'm guessing it's about 20-30 hours for a full first playthrough. The kind of game that I spend a couple weeks with, rather than, say, the rest of the year. That's the sort of experience I'm looking for, that doesn't get in the way of any of my other ill-defined "gaming goals".

4 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

(Twilight Princess being one such example of a Zelda game that tried too hard to be like another Zelda game)

Now I have my own curiosity: which game did you find Twilight Princess too akin to? I have one primary suspicion, but could see a few different answers fitting...

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So, I'm at a time of my life where I realize that I only have so many hours in the day. Breath if the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom both sound like excellent, engrossing games. The kind that you could blink, and find you've spent 300 hours in. That's... honestly pretty intimidating. Especially when I already have a few Switch games that I've poured triple-digit hours into.

Echoes of Wisdom, by comparison, looks like an experience that I can get my mouth around. I'm guessing it's about 20-30 hours for a full first playthrough. The kind of game that I spend a couple weeks with, rather than, say, the rest of the year. That's the sort of experience I'm looking for, that doesn't get in the way of any of my other ill-defined "gaming goals".

Now I have my own curiosity: which game did you find Twilight Princess too akin to? I have one primary suspicion, but could see a few different answers fitting...

Ah, I see. That makes sense. I'm generally hesitant about playing very large games these days as well.

The answer to your question is Ocarina of Time. It's a known fact that Twilight Princess was trying to emulate Ocarina of Time; it was made at a time when a very vocal subset of Zelda fans were complaining that Wind Waker was "too cartoony" and were demanding a game more like Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess was made to appease that subset of fans.

I ultimately enjoyed Twilight Princess when I played it, but I feel it tried to hard to be like Ocarina of Time instead of being its own game. One thing I would point to in order to explain why that's a bad thing would be that the things that are unique about Twilight Princess: Wolf Link, the twilight, etc., end up being very underutilized as a result.

Consider this: Wolf Link is plastered on the cover to the point of having equal prominence as Hylian Link, and yet, in game, he sees about as much use as Deku Link did in Majora's Mask, despite Majora's Mask having been made in only a year and Deku Link being only one of three transformation masks in that game. It especially doesn't help that the sequences where the player has to play as Wolf Link come across as blatant padding, as all the player is doing in those sequences is collecting bugs.

Was Ocarina of Time your primary suspicion?

Edited September 6 by vanguard333

[Lord_Brand]

Zora Queen looks cute. I imagine she'll get plenty of fan art.

I'm satisfied to finally see a canon example of Zelda wearing a Gerudo outfit. Been wanting that since BotW.

I'm one of the fans who liked LAS's playset aesthetics, and I'm happy to see them return here. Still hoping for Oracle remakes in this style.

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

I'm one of the fans who liked LAS's playset aesthetics, and I'm happy to see them return here. Still hoping for Oracle remakes in this style.

I liked the Link's Awakening remake's aesthetics as well, albeit with the idea that I thought it was well suited for a game that takes place within a dream. For that reason, I was surprised to see it return, but I am glad that it did, as I think it really fits what we've seen of the game so far. One big advantage that it has is that it makes the dimensions of the in-game objects very clear at a glance, which will definitely help the echo mechanic.

Oracle remakes in this style would be good to see, perhaps even alongside the third Oracle game that was scrapped.

[avensis]

i like how this is a blend of Old school and new school, even have BOTH kinds of Zora.

 

_{snaptube vidmate}

Edited Sunday at 09:51 PM by avensis

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 9/5/2024 at 7:36 PM, vanguard333 said:

Was Ocarina of Time your primary suspicion?

Yeah, that's what I had initially thought. But I considered that it might've instead been Link to the Past (a previous game in which Link can turn into an animal) or Majora's Mask (a previous game lauded for its darker tone). So I didn't want to presume too much.

As for the points you raise, I suppose I didn't really see them as problems. I saw Link turn into a wolf, and thought it was neat. I thought the "twilight" setting was surreal and alien, leaving an impression without overstaying its welcome. My only real "complaint" that I recall, is not letting Zant be the main antagonist, and shoehorning Ganondorf into the game instead. Which... while Ganondorf fits more naturally into Ocarina of Time, I do think this may have been Twilight Princess emulating that game, to a fault.

On 9/9/2024 at 4:14 PM, Lord_Brand said:

I'm one of the fans who liked LAS's playset aesthetics, and I'm happy to see them return here. Still hoping for Oracle remakes in this style.

Same, it's cute. I know "Live Action Legend of Zelda movie" is in the works. But if we could get animated Zelda shorts in this style - either paired with movie releases, or just dropped on YouTube as their own thing - I would be pleased as punch.

[Lord_Brand]

4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Same, it's cute. I know "Live Action Legend of Zelda movie" is in the works. But if we could get animated Zelda shorts in this style - either paired with movie releases, or just dropped on YouTube as their own thing - I would be pleased as punch.

"Playset Zelda" shorts would be cute. The style's welcome to stay far as I'm concerned, just like Toon Zelda.

Far as animation goes though, a Zelda anime would be my top request. I'd love to see the world of Hyrule rendered in lavishly detailed visuals. The animated cutscenes at the beginning and end of LAS are a good taste of what could be possible.

Edited Sunday at 07:37 AM by Lord_Brand

[vanguard333]

5 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

Far as animation goes though, a Zelda anime would be my top request. I'd love to see the world of Hyrule rendered in lavishly detailed visuals. The animated cutscenes at the beginning and end of LAS are a good taste of what could be possible.

Agreed; I would definitely most want to see a Zelda anime.

Another good example of what could be possible would be the Palutena trailer for Smash Bros. 4 that was mostly Link fighting Pit. That one gives a good idea of what Zelda combat in an anime could look like.

 

Well, Nintendo dropped one more final "Overview" trailer for the game that essentially sums up everything in the previous trailers. It doesn't say or show anything new, so I'm not going to leave a Link to it here. Honestly though, I'm glad that it doesn't show anything new; I think that the first three trailers were already getting dangerously close to showing too much of the game.