19th June 2024, 10:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 19th June 2024, 10:32 AM by A Black Falcon.)
Nintendo had their not-E3 Nintendo Direct yesterday, a week after not-E3 Summer Games Fest and the rest of the industry's announcements, and it was a quite good show. I'd say that the highlight of the show for sure, though, was the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom... a Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda! And it looks like it's a somewhat traditionally-styled title also, being 2d. As someone who has very little interest in BotW and has never played TotK because I find open world games some of the most boring things ever, I was kind of giving up on the Zelda franchise as something I cared about anymore. Yeah, I used to love Zelda, until they made it into boring open-world games that totally lost me... until this.
Yes, going against all of my expectations given their past comments like "but then what would Link do?", Nintendo is making a Zelda game where you play as Zelda. This is a 2d Zelda game with some unique design elements. Visually the game clearly seems to be running in the Link's Awakening remake engine, and has an overhead view and a similar look to that game. I'd imagine it's by the same developer as that one was. I think the game looks great, I'm quite excited. I'd be almost as excited if you played as Link, too; the main thing I'm excited for is the gameplay. That you actually play as Zelda this time for once makes it even better, but that isn't the main draw.
Here's the trailer:
So yeah, you play as Zelda after Link got kidnapped or something when he fell in a portal that opened up. She can't directly attack enemies, though, and instead uses a summoning rod to summon things to stand on or to fight for her. They showed all kinds of things, including summoning tables to stand on, rocks to throw at enemies, and more. You can combine things too; items can stack, and at one point Zelda is shown carrying around a rock-shooting thing, basically working like a hand cannon. Pretty cool stuff. I think this should lead to some pretty interesting puzzles, and fun combat challenges as well.
Also, there are sure to be more items in this game. An item cross is shown on screen, which means that you will get other things to equip that they haven't mentioned yet. It sounds like Zelda won't get a sword in this game because they want to leave direct combat to Link, but I'm looking forward to seeing what new and interesting items they come up with. The 'summon stuff and do silly or useful things with it' concept is great and should lead to a lot of fun gameplay.
The game is already causing some controversy, though; some people are upset about Zelda's lack of a direct attack, either because they'd rather fight enemies directly instead of having to use slightly indirect means, or because of arguments that it's evidence of Nintendo's sexism or what have you. And like... yeah, that may be in a way true in that they're finding a way to make a Zelda game starring Zelda that sticks to what they have said in the past about Link and Zelda's characters instead of making the "it's the same but as a girl now" game that some want, but this doesn't bother me at all, personally. Nintendo is trying something that is both familiar and new with this game, and the results so far look fantastic. Oh no, Zelda needs to hit enemies with other enemies, tables, rocks, or more instead of cutting them with a sword! How awful!
(Yes, I know TP Zelda had a sword. She was no accomplished warrior, though.)
So yeah, this game is looking amazing! The summoning rod is clearly the central item here, but it'll be very interesting to see what other things Zelda gets to use in the game. Will it be a selection of all-new things instead of Link's usual expected selection of items, the bow, bombs, hookshot, etc? If so that will be pretty interesting to see.
As for the graphics, they've gone for a very cutesey style. I do think it works in the overhead view that Echoes of Wisdom uses. Is this my favorite Zelda art style, no, but it looks nice. It's got a similar style to LttP and LA.
Yes, going against all of my expectations given their past comments like "but then what would Link do?", Nintendo is making a Zelda game where you play as Zelda. This is a 2d Zelda game with some unique design elements. Visually the game clearly seems to be running in the Link's Awakening remake engine, and has an overhead view and a similar look to that game. I'd imagine it's by the same developer as that one was. I think the game looks great, I'm quite excited. I'd be almost as excited if you played as Link, too; the main thing I'm excited for is the gameplay. That you actually play as Zelda this time for once makes it even better, but that isn't the main draw.
Here's the trailer:
So yeah, you play as Zelda after Link got kidnapped or something when he fell in a portal that opened up. She can't directly attack enemies, though, and instead uses a summoning rod to summon things to stand on or to fight for her. They showed all kinds of things, including summoning tables to stand on, rocks to throw at enemies, and more. You can combine things too; items can stack, and at one point Zelda is shown carrying around a rock-shooting thing, basically working like a hand cannon. Pretty cool stuff. I think this should lead to some pretty interesting puzzles, and fun combat challenges as well.
Also, there are sure to be more items in this game. An item cross is shown on screen, which means that you will get other things to equip that they haven't mentioned yet. It sounds like Zelda won't get a sword in this game because they want to leave direct combat to Link, but I'm looking forward to seeing what new and interesting items they come up with. The 'summon stuff and do silly or useful things with it' concept is great and should lead to a lot of fun gameplay.
The game is already causing some controversy, though; some people are upset about Zelda's lack of a direct attack, either because they'd rather fight enemies directly instead of having to use slightly indirect means, or because of arguments that it's evidence of Nintendo's sexism or what have you. And like... yeah, that may be in a way true in that they're finding a way to make a Zelda game starring Zelda that sticks to what they have said in the past about Link and Zelda's characters instead of making the "it's the same but as a girl now" game that some want, but this doesn't bother me at all, personally. Nintendo is trying something that is both familiar and new with this game, and the results so far look fantastic. Oh no, Zelda needs to hit enemies with other enemies, tables, rocks, or more instead of cutting them with a sword! How awful!
(Yes, I know TP Zelda had a sword. She was no accomplished warrior, though.)So yeah, this game is looking amazing! The summoning rod is clearly the central item here, but it'll be very interesting to see what other things Zelda gets to use in the game. Will it be a selection of all-new things instead of Link's usual expected selection of items, the bow, bombs, hookshot, etc? If so that will be pretty interesting to see.
As for the graphics, they've gone for a very cutesey style. I do think it works in the overhead view that Echoes of Wisdom uses. Is this my favorite Zelda art style, no, but it looks nice. It's got a similar style to LttP and LA.
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