The DNA of BOTW and TOTK in EOW

I am really enjoying how much of the DNA of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are prominently showing up in Echoes of Wisdom! I’m only a few hours into the game and I know there’s a lot more of the game to see. But I love seeing so many of these BotW/TotK elements in EoW because I genuinely want these features to become standard in every future Zelda title. And man, do I absolutely love having a quest log in a 2D Zelda game! It really adds a new level of organization and depth to the experience.

Zelda was long overdue for a quest log to return. I do count the Bomber’s Notebook from Majora’s Mask as a quest log that at least tracked Link’s side quests. Nintendo was absolutely HAD to add one to Breath of the Wild because of it’s open world design. I was very annoyed that Skyward Sword did not have one. The side quests for gratitude crystals would’ve benefited tremendously from a Bomber’s Notebook style tracking system.

Another element from BotW & TotK I like seeing here in EoW are the the stat-boosting edibles, which are smoothies here instead of meals! They provide benefits like damage reduction, faster swimming, and resistances to heat, cold, and lightning. The ‘glow’ status from TotK is back too.

I'm excited to find what other stat bonuses you can get from the smoothies! And sticking with stat-boosts; we get accessories again! This isn’t the first time we’ve had accessories - recall the ring system in Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. The accessories in Echoes of Wisdom serve the same purpose.

I’ve always loved the ring system in the Oracle games and wish it stayed. It reminded me of Paper Mario’s badge system, which I also really enjoy. Nintendo doesn’t lean into this enough. It’s one of the only ways we get to augment Link (or Zelda) in-game and gives customization options. Nintendo needs to go a step further and include a skill tree in my opinion.

The Desert Palace ruins from A Link to the Past!

Another thing I love in Zelda is having something to level. Even though levels in the traditional sense isn’t really a thing in Zelda. In A Link to the Past, there was a number by your sword to indicate its level and that was even more apparent in Link’s Awakening where any thing that could be leveled had “L-1” on the base item. But with these games, the level here determines which tier of upgrade you’re at. in BotW and TotK, the point leveling system is very much hidden, but you do use several currencies to level things like health, stamina, inventory, gear, etc. Here in EoW, so far, I can tell we get to level some of our weaponry and Swordfighter form. Better start farming those power crystals!

I’m sure I’ll find more elements from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kindgom in Echoes of Wisdom the more I play! If and when I do, I’ll update this post!