I was recently sent an article by a friend and decided to post a longer response to it. The article is titled “There’s One Glaring Problem With The New ‘Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom’ Nintendo Game Where You Play As Zelda” from Forbes and their Senior Contributor Erik Kain. If you choose to engage with the author, please be respectful of their opinions. Respectful disagreements and conversations are perfectly fine – see below – but threats or anything of the sort are awful and will not be tolerated.
So let’s start on some common ground. First, I agree that it is exciting that after all this time, the princess of legend is finally the star of her own story. The series has been called “The Legend of Zelda” since its North American NES release in 1987. However, in all that time, we’ve never been able to play as Zelda herself, aside from one-offs and spin-off titles (we do not talk about the CD-i abominations).
However, where Erik Kain and I disagree is the implementation of Zelda’s attacks. To be fair, I was expecting Zelda to have her own set of weaponry – I expected to see a bow, personally as she often is the one to give Link the Bow of Light or some variation, as seen in Ocarina of Time (as just “light arrows”) up through Breath of the Wild. However, seeing her work with just magic isn’t a new concept. When Zelda was introduced to 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, she was given a set of magical attacks – borrowing heavily from Ocarina‘s spells that Link obtains throughout his adventure. And that implementation has generally seemed to work out well as a concept for Zelda as a fighter in general.
Looking at Echoes of Wisdom specifically, the concept of the Tri Rod (as Nintendo of Europe spells it on the eShop page) is definitely interesting. Mr. Kain says “there are certain things I expect out of a Zelda game [including] a sword-and-shield.” And while I see the appeal of this, we can look at the approach to the most recent Zelda games to see why this isn’t such a sacred cow to the development team. Zelda has also been about its dungeon items since at least the original, although some may argue A Link to the Past set the template. Speaking of A Link to the Past, that game was series-defining, as all games since followed that general structure. From the more linear story, to the freedom to explore the world (within strictly-defined progress gates), these are all things that established the Zelda formula for decades…
Until 2017’s release of Breath of the Wild, the universally acclaimed entry that shattered everything you’d come to expect in a Zelda game. Linear story? Gone. Annoying companion character? Ejected. Required fishing tutorial? Sent out to sea. Being the first game after the series-breaking set (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom), Echoes of Wisdom was going to be an interesting entry no matter what. So, in the vein of the Hero of the Wild set, Echoes went about setting fire to every established Zelda convention. The Tri Rod makes gameplay more interesting than ever before. Sure, I’m a little sad that Zelda doesn’t even get a bow as a basic attack weapon, but the concept of creating these echoes is basically a spiritual successor to Ultrahand from Tears of the Kingdom. Use the objects in the world to create your own battle, your own weapons, your own… whatever.
Just like Ultrahand sparked a wave of creative player inventions, the Tri Rod has the potential to unleash a new wave of ingenuity. Imagine using the Tri-Rod to duplicate enemies and strategically position them to create elaborate Rube Goldberg machines that solve puzzles or take down powerful foes. In this 2.5D space, the Tri Rod might excel at creating intricate puzzle solutions or dynamic Tower Defense-style combat encounters. Players could strategically duplicate objects to create defensive barriers or offensive chokepoints, manipulating enemy movement and attacks on the fly.
I’ve heard this and variations of this from too many places to quote any one person or perspective. Zelda has always been the poster child for a game series that doesn’t deviate from its formula and tropes. The Tri Rod in Echoes of Wisdom presents a unique opportunity to explore combat and puzzles in a fresh way, while still retaining the series’ core values of exploration, discovery, and problem-solving.