brightknightie | Entries tagged with gaming:zelda

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...?

( expansion on my Condé lore interpretation / fanfic idea from this morning )

A tip for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, when you choose to play: To get all the cut-scenes, interactions, and story for a certain truly lovely character, approach the snowy Hebra region from the west, not from the east. Indeed, when the time comes, make it easy and just start from where the glowing quest marker is. They put it right there for a reason.

I, unfortunately, continued my "Explore first!" kick into Hebra and so blundered into Condé's story from the wrong side. Not that any option is wrong as such in an RPG or even JRPG, but... I've seen videos of folks playing this charming, intriguing section, so when I blundered into a certain spot and got compressed dialogue skipping that much more personal and exciting introduction to the character, I knew what I'd lost. You won't want to miss it.

That said, exploring Hebra thoroughly brought me fun discoveries that I was unspoiled on, probably because the people who streamed and wrote wiki entries when the game come out last fall had played the main quest at speed, rushing through straight to the end for reasons like not getting spoiled and satisfying their followers, and so missed some interesting tidbits, including about Condé himself.

( Spoilers (and one fanfic idea) about Condé )

Yes, it's a delightful game. Playing as Zelda is fun. Echoes are fun. The plot and lore are fun. If Condé and Dohna are richer characterizations than Link and Zelda, well, that's a peril of a "silent hero," I'm afraid.

sunshine_revival '25 Challenge #1: "Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025."

My fannish goals for the rest of this summer include:

Participate in everywoman, the fanfic exchange starring women characters, when it comes along. I will definitely offer D&DC, TLOZ, and BSG78; others' requests will influence what else I may list.

Build a pattern of recommending something once per week on recommendation communities, and then including a wrap-up of my recs here in my own journal in my monthly "Enthusiasms" post. (Or give it its own monthly post?) Probably usually in recthething, but it could be any suitable recs community. (Is it appropriate to cross-post recs to multiple recs communities? Maybe at staggered intervals?)

Finish writing and post an odd TLOZ piece I'm thinking of as: "Three Gerudo Ficlets in the Past of Tears of the Kingdom, Before Age of Imprisonment Totally Josses Them." ( Read more... )

At the end of the year, of course I plan to participate in

hlh_shortcuts, the annual Highlander fanfic exchange.

Catching up on TV whenever, I plan to watch Andor (season two) and Ironheart (season one). I wish that they released one episode per week, not tranches of episodes! I find one-episode-per-week so inviting, and these tranches so overwhelming, that I end up putting off watching these, while I am of course wholly caught up on the current season of Grantchester. Back-watching TV, I will continue my one-episode-per-week first-time viewing of Babylon 5. (Again, if you mentally classify the special effects as meant for stage instead of screen, this show does much more than merely "hold up;" I feel that it beats the heck out of most of what we have today. Storytelling, acting, episodicness and continuity...)

I already have my pre-sale tickets for Superman (2025) and The Fantastic Four (2025), of course. (Please let me say again that folks should consider watching Thunderbolts*; it's rich and satisfying in multiple layers. I'm disheartened that so many people skipped it. It's well-made and deserves better.)

How about you...?

I'm still enjoying my way through The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom! I know that some folks don't relish that its combat is mostly ranged, with mage Zelda instead of fighter Link, but I'm finding it entirely natural. They fixed the menu inconvenience with the Switch 2 upgrade; you can favorite/star echoes now, and there are more sorting pre-sets. And I've found several side scenarios that I was not at all spoiled on.

Mild spoilers for a 17-30-hour game that's been out for 9 months...

Having started with Gerudo Desert and explored it thoroughly while saving its people from the rifts and monsters, I then went to Jabul Waters and did the same. I'm afraid that I found the Zora region a little less interesting, challenging, and satisfying than the Gerudo region, which left me wondering whether I should have done them in the opposite order. The story, side quests, and follow-ups with the Zora just weren't as engaging for me, personally, as those with the Gerudo, which had more personality and pathos. For example, at this point in my gameplay, everyone in the Zora region, including in the Hylian village, is completely content as well as wrapped up, with the possible exception of the one Sea Zora who is secretly either crushing on or fangirling her chief, Kushara. Over in the Gerudo region, though, there's still one woman actively suffering from having been in a rift, and many characters expressing new hopes, dreams, fears, and projects after I fulfilled their side quests... and of course I'm still working on the Mango Rush mini-game (I know it rewards a new outfit with a stats effect). Do I smell different writers for each region? That's pretty customary, right?

After both of those, and as much side-exploration as I could manage to sweep up all the NPC situations and open up the map , of course I cleared Hyrule Castle and moved the story forward. I then did as much more free-exploring and side-questing as I could without triggering the next main story phases, and finally climbed Eldin Volcano, where I am now.

( Some loose fanfic inspirations from the game )

Trivia, for the record, as I'd wondered about it here before:

As you may know, Tri is the companion character in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom: a floating ball of primordial golden energy, a bit bigger than a softball, with some immobile black markings that suggest a face (but may actually be characters in a language, or just stripes, spots, whatever Tri's kind has), and a tail (or ponytail) of triangles that measure out Tri's magic. While the in-dialogue evidence for Tri's gender and/or sex, if any, is scant and conflicting, one of the quest log screens uses "they/their" for Tri (Tri uses "I/my" when speaking). That's canon enough to make a call on which pronouns to use for the character, until/unless other evidence comes.

(Translation is often a lingering and fascinating issue in Zelda games. It's the whole focus of

QuestWithAaron.)

Tonight will be one week from when I got my Switch 2. I'm enjoying Echoes of Wisdom very much -- with all its exploration and puzzles, and side-character dialogue changing every time you accomplish something that affects them, so ~~you need to~~I choose to run back and re-interview all of them to catch the tidbits. The folks who felt grumpy because it stars Zelda instead of Link because she's a conjurer instead of a fighter, well, they can go enjoy some combat-heavy game while I enjoy this one. I'm perfectly happy dodging and hiding and casting while my echoes fight for me; this is what mage and cleric characters naturally do, right? And it's why they team up with fighter characters when they can. (Folks who were grumpy because you play as a girl character were just sad and silly and making themselves miss out, of course.)

Last night, I pretty much finished the Gerudo Desert portion of the game*, including killing the two giant sandworms causing the sandstorms. All that remains in the desert, that I know of, is the mango mini-game, which I keep losing at the second level, and the not-yet-unlocked quest for the soldiers who are too busy practicing spear-work to talk to me (there has to be a quest there, I'm assuming). Oh, and to come back and (minor spoiler) talk to all the cats when I later unlock that ability.

That I've come this far in a week reminds me that I need to pace/ration myself. As nice as it is right now to go hide out in Hyrule, I must not let this take over all my hobby time! With the in-game map and quest log functions, you don't need paper game journals in the old way, but I'll nevertheless be starting one for time played (to keep it reasonable) and a minimum number of potential lore/fanfic observations/ideas generated per session before I will let myself play again.

Do you put time limits, or level limits, on your play-time...? What have you found works well?

* I chose to do Gerudo Desert first when the game branched into two paths. Others may take the other branch first.

Probably this has been done, of course, but I just now thought of this The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess post-canon story possibility, and maybe it would be worth writing someday:

Up to a certain point near the story's climax, the audience and the characters all believe that the bulbins are monsters/demons, and nothing else. But in that particular scene, we see the Bulbin King speak -- literally speak, and in Hyrulean! -- for himself and make a different choice, and reveal his motivations, showing that at least he, and probably all his people, are, well, people. Not monsters, like all the monsters that cannot speak and cannot choose. At the very end of the game, we see the Bulbin King and a couple of other bulbins riding around, possibly hunting, possibly raiding, iirc, but definitely targeting animals, no longer people.

What is the journey from being perceived as monsters/demons to being perceived as just another of the diverse peoples of Hyrule? Is this a joint project of the TP characters and the Bulbin King? Zelda cannot successfully just order her people to stop hating and fearing bulbins; the Bulbin King may have the same problem with his people. Do the bulbins in the end settle in greater Hyrule and join society and maybe even produce sages someday, or do they turn out in the end to be from somewhere beyond Ordon, and return there? (Were they one of the surface peoples in the time of SkSw and became more monster-like over time? Were they monsters/demons who became people, a la what's-his-name in SkSw?)

Just thinking.

Does fandom at large still use the term "jossed," that is, having a plot theory or fanfic story in progress overtaken or overturned by emerging canon? Or do we now avoid the term because of its original namesake's revealed behavior? (Or because young folks don't get the reference?) I see that it's still on TVTropes. Just curious!

I was idly thinking ahead to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, which will surely joss its share of theories and stories, as well as supply some "I knew it!"s.

Here are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!

Spotlight: No, I didn't manage to snag a Switch 2 pre-order
( I did try... )

Ficathons, fests & communities

Create & engage
- fkficfest, the Forever Knight challenge, comes due May 24. (I'm the mod!)
- saturdaymorningex, the cartoon/anime exchange, has sign-ups through May 9, with works due June 20. (I'm signed up!)
- earlybirdgetstheword, an exchange for small, inactive fandoms, has sign-ups through May 14, with works due June 22. (If it didn't overlap with others, I'd like to do it!)
- allbutromance, focused on platonic relationships, has nominations through May 5 and sign-ups through May 24.
- sholio is running a May Multifandom Commentfic Promptfest. Check it out!
- genprompt_bingo's 28th round has sign-ups through June 30, with indefinite posting.
- rewrite_a_fic, a challenge to rewrite one of your own works, comes due November 30.
- lyricaltitles's "album challenge" asks participants to write a story for each song on an album of their choice.
- summerofhorrorexchange, multifandom and multimedia, has nominations through May 5 and sign-ups through May 14.
- monstersmashexchange, focused on relationships with monsters, has nominations through May 5 and sign-ups through May 17.
- justunrequitedex, focused on unrequited feelings, has sign-ups through May 9.
- domaystic, a promptfest for domestic themes, runs through May 31.
- fic_promptly is an ongoing promptfest community.
- trope_of_the_month's May theme is "gender or sex swap."
- allbingo's May theme is "colors."
- pinchhits is a forum for pinch-hits in exchanges. For example, sakuraexchange is seeking pinch hitters.
- whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
Enjoy & share
- fancake (themed fanfic recs); May theme: "angst (with a happy ending)"
- gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
- het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
- fanart_recs (fanart recs)
- recthething (fanwork recs)

Sidelight: The MCU is on an upswing (no spoilers)

I'm happy to say that Thunderbolts*, seen in a theater last night, was much better and more appealing to me, personally, than I'd expected, with strong theming, a coherent plot, no visible executive notes, and the best post-credits scene in years.
Daredevil: Born Again is still much too violent for me, personally, so I hide my eyes a lot, but it is also still well-written and getting better and better as it leans away from its [mis]conception under the previous Disney leadership and back into being a direct continuation of the original series. I love/hate its current relevance.
The trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps makes me feel all the feelings that the best of the MCU ever brought me, including tearing up a little at the end. Edge of my seat. Fingers crossed.

Profile

Amy

Expand Cut Tags

Style Credit

Style: Swim in the Sea for Modular by branchandroot
Resources: Tip My Hat

Page generated Friday, July 11th, 2025 12:32 pm

I love good guys

Entries tagged with gaming:zelda

Echoes of Wisdom Finale & Credits (TLOZ)

What did Condé lose to the rifts? (TLOZ:EOW)

I accidentally deprived myself of half of Condé's story (TLOZ:EOW)

Sunshine Revival '25 #1: Goals

Over halfway through TLOZ:EOW

Found the canon on Tri's gender in TLOZ:EoW

EoW: I've cleared Gerudo Desert of rifts and giant sandworms

TLOZ:TwPr story concept: "The Bulbin Truce"

Do we still use the word "jossed?"

Fannish options & enthusiasms | May 2025

Profile

Expand Cut Tags

Tags

Style Credit