Key recommendations
- Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom features Pokemon-like mechanics with the Tri Rod, which can collect echoes for traversal and battle.
- With over 127 echoes to collect, players can use items and creatures to aid in exploration and battle, just like in Pokemon.
- NPCs in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom request to see certain echoes, similar to Pokemon side quests.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom it is not a Pokémon game, but it sure feels like one. As its story sees the titular princess making her way through Hyrule in an attempt to save it from mysterious rifts that threaten to swallow her whole, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom includes a lot of Pokémon-esque mechanics in its gameplay.
The majority Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomit is apparent Pokémon the influence is summed up in Zelda's Tri Rod, the echoes it can create, and their uses. However, there are also side quests Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom which emulates a long-standing feature of Pokémonhis gameplay.
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Feels like a Pokemon game
There are over a hundred echoes to find and learn in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
To bear any resemblance to Pokémon, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom should include some form of creature collection. While not a traditional creature collection, players can use Zelda's Tri Rod to learn the echoes of various objects and creatures scattered throughout Hyrule. These echoes can then be summoned at any time to aid players in traversals and combat, with items generally serving as traversal echoes and creatures as combat echoes. When a creature's echo is summoned, it will automatically attack any nearby enemies, giving Zelda much-needed assistance in battle. Given that this is pretty much exactly what players can do with their Pokemon in a Pokémon game, the resemblance is striking.
There aren't just a few echoes to be found Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomhowever, as its Hyrule boasts 127 echoes in the form of items and monsters for players to find. Players will quickly learn just how extensive this arsenal is when they get new echoes left and right in the first few hours of the game. As it can be in a Pokemon game, learning a brand new echo is exciting Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomsimply because of the new possibilities that often open up after getting one. However, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom takes this “creature collection” beyond anything Pokémon ever did, allowing players to also collect and summon items that can aid in their exploration.
Players can even echo their NPCs in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, just like they can their Pokemon
A striking resemblance which Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom seems to shamelessly share with Pokémon can be seen in several side quests acquired in the game. As players explore Hyrule, they may occasionally encounter individuals who wish to see a particular echo or two with their own eyes, and speaking to them starts a side quest. As long as players have collected the requested echo, they can summon it to the quest giver to either complete or progress the side quest. Some NPCs want to see different variations of a monster, where the quest is multi-step. Others, however, would rather see an object – like a floating tile, for example.
It's an interesting way to encourage players to get as many echoes as possible, but
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
it's not the first game to implement such an idea.
Since its release Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blueplayers were able to encounter NPCs requesting to see a particular Pokemon, initiating a side quest. In the older games, all players would have to do was have the desired Pokemon in their party, and the mission would complete, giving them a reward in return. Given the Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom it does almost exactly the same thing as its echoes, it's even more like it Pokémon than just in its “creature collection” game mechanics. Games don't have to be Pokémon to have similar characteristics, but Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom it just seems like an attempt to pander to the creature collecting phenomenon that is over 25 years old.
