The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Announcement Trailer
. Looks cute - I like the return of the Link's Awakening remake toy aesthetic. Hope this doesn't turn out kinda mid, like I heard that new Princess Peach game was.
I was disappointed thinking they were gonna re-use ALTTP's map again, but the previews they showed after the trailer actually made it look like a much more diverse world this time around, so I have hope.
and don't forget they also made a 2d zelda prototype to test out mechanics for botw all the way back then, which this seems to be somewhat of an iteration on.
im really a pretty big fan of nintendos approach with these games: TotK feels not only free-form in how you play it, but also in how it was made, like they let the designers just experiment and play with their game before it had to become just another legend of zelda game. like when they tested the game they probably just noclipped out of caves and dungeons and then had the genius idea to just add that to the game as a mechanic. this is how one-person indie devs are supposed to make games, not triple-A companies making hundred million dollar games. although admittedly this is certainly not a philosophy they apply to their other games, the mario parties and the like are certainly produced on an always-running assembly line.
I'm a little disappointed they don't let Zelda stab things. She seems like a rapier girl if you ask me. But the actual gameplay looks really fun so I can't complain too much.
Can't wait for the speedrun of this to be one of the all time cheesiest.
While I would 100% have been down for a melee combatant Zelda (especially if she were notably different from Link despite that, such as being a more nimble thrusting sword type of person as you suggest) I can see why Nintendo people wouldn't want to go with that. I think if you're innovating in this way, in a series like LoZ, you have to explain why you're doing certain things. If you make Zelda the playable character and she runs around using a sword, the inevitable question is, "Why couldn't this have just been Link? What does playing as Zelda actually change here?"
Personally I don't think you need answers to questions like those, but I think Nintendo does think that.
I recently played through Twilight Princess and I'm not 100% sure on this one either. She does have it in the game, but there's some reason she never uses it. I think she just gets laughed off by Ganondorf the one time she would've even had an opportunity.
It doesn't help that Zelda is like a tertiary character in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess