Echoes Of Wisdom Originally Starred Link, Until His Sword & Shield “Got In The Way”
Who’s excited for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom? We’re just two days away from the brand new top-down Zelda game’s release, and in the run-up to that day, Nintendo has been sharing Ask the Developer interviews with key members of the game’s development team.
Today, Volume 3 dropped, and in it, series producer Eiji Aonuma, and co-directors Tomomi Sano (from Nintendo) and Satoshi Terada (from Grezzo) focus on Zelda’s very first starring role.
According to Aonuma, the team were “initially thinking that Link would be the protagonist”, but when playing around with gameplay elements, it wasn’t quite working:
“But when we focused on the gameplay using echoes and had Link copying and pasting things into the game field, the sword and shield got in the way. If you have a sword and a shield, you can just fight using those. There’s no need to rely on the monsters’ power, right?”
Terada then asked the question “What if players could use only echoes at first in order to understand the gameplay, and then as the game progresses, they get the sword and shield?” This also didn’t work out because, as Aonuma put it, “That’s just your typical Legend of Zelda game.”
Settling on the idea of “stick[ing] with the echoes only”, Aonuma then came to a conclusion on just who the protagonist could be: “Who in the series would be a good fit for these powers and bring their insight to them? Well, that would have to be Princess Zelda.”
Aonuma acknowledges comments from fans who have wanted Zelda to be playable in a mainline title, and mused his considerations prior to, and during the development of, Echoes of Wisdom:
“When asked this question, I’ve always thought, “Of course, as long as it makes sense for the game and does justice to her as a character to be the protagonist,” and answered that way. I had been trying in vain to figure out what would really do justice to her. But when I saw the team struggling to identify the ideal protagonist for this game, I thought, this is exactly the game for her!”
Throughout the interview, the trio go on to discuss designing Zelda’s outfit — which is actually a holdover from when the game was developed with Link in mind (and he’s wearing a hood in that first trailer, don’t forget) — as well as consideration for the story.
The fourth part of the Ask the Developer series for Echoes of Wisdom will drop tomorrow. Volumes 1 and 2 dropped yesterday and gave us some insights into the “mischief” of Echoes of Wisdom, and the number of Echoes you’ll have available.
Are you glad to see Zelda as the hero here? Let us know in the comments.