Echoes of Wisdom Finale & Credits (TLOZ)

[brightknightie]

I finished The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom over the holiday weekend. I enjoyed it! I lost patience and didn't stick with the Sleep Dojo through the last two "sleep trainings" that I was struggling with to earn the outfit it rewards, and I never got the second available bonus outfit from my one amiibo, so I didn't 100% the game, but I think that I experienced all the possible story bits, which is of course what I want, so that's fine. Throughout the game, I enjoyed that there were so many different ways to solve challenges; there are almost zero obstacles with only one right solution, which was fantastic for me.

There's not a lot to say about the ending that isn't very well known by now... Spoilers... Link slashing an opening into the very hide of the Cthulu-like beast that is Null is cool. Null's heartbeat is cool. I loved Zelda and Link working together at the end to defeat Null, her bind plus his sword, and would genuinely have enjoyed a few more puzzles along those lines! I appreciated Tri's departure. The lore is intriguing and amorphous, and of course the official timeline placement was nailed down months ago.

Finally seeing the end credits straight through, I happily learned that all the characters visibly affected by the rifts are shown as recovered after the destruction of the rifts. The comatose Hylian boy, the listless Gerudo woman... yay! I also saw that all the might crystals are gone and Link's weapons have reverted to their pre-enhanced forms, there with Link and Lueburry fussing over them near Lueburry's machine. (Though the Tri Rod is still there in Zelda's room.) And electroapples are the new Deku Scrub hot trend, plunging the Business Scrubs into commerce chaos. Yet, as far as I can tell, the Deku Scrub in the southeast corner is still lonely... I didn't find any side-quest or credits moment to bring that Scrub a visitor (other than Zelda). Hmmm.

What are your thoughts and feelings about Echoes of Wisdom...?

Comments

[autodach]

I didn't bother with the last boss rush in the dojo either, I find those inherently boring. Never got 100% in Skyward Sword for the same reason, lol.
Everything else about this game is really fun, even though it holds your hand too much, the way the newer Zeldas are prone to. Especially since it's already on the easier side.
I want to replay it entirely once I get my hands on a Switch 2 :D

[brightknightie]

Agreed, mini-games and repeat battles can be very boring (and frustrating)!

One thing I, personally and subjectively, didn't love with the Sleep Dojo was how its timers interacted with the echoes mechanic. Outside the mini-games, it's perfectly acceptable and highly effective for Zelda to deploy her echoes cleverly and support them with bind, with many choices for how to win, however the player's imagination works... though that is often slow. The timers in the Sleep Dojo constrain choices even more than the locking off of inventory and experience, I feel. That's probably very fun for some folks! So, no objection to including it for them. But, for me, it felt like walking into a different game.

I look forward to a re-play, too! :-) I want to do the regions in a different order, do the side-quests in a different order, and of course get those Conde scenes I missed. ;-D

[autodach]

Good point! The dojo is more of a puzzle box where you have to find the one solution, while the rest of the game is more about creativity. I liked some of the dojo challenges, but others not so much.